I am going to perform a public service today. I’m going to write about scams that are going around.

Specifically, I am going to write about two different scams through which some unkind soul has attempted to defraud me. I am writing this as a warning so that you, dear reader, will be aware of these scams.

The most recent scam I have gotten is one in which I receive a phone call and do not answer (because I never answer any number I do not know), but the “caller” leaves a voicemail message. When I play the message, the first thing I always hear is the first few seconds of Chopin’s “Minute Waltz.” The music is then followed by a very robotic-sounding female voice saying, “This is Amazon. There has been a purchase on your Amazon account for $1,499 for an Apple MacBook Pro. If you did not authorize this charge, press 1 to speak to a customer service representative.”

Had I answered the call and pressed 1, I would have been connected to someone masquerading as a “customer service representative” who would have told me my Amazon account was hacked and that he/she needed all this information from me, such as my credit card number, bank account number, Social Security number, and who knows what else.

If you get this phone call, hang up. If a voicemail like the one I just described is left on your phone, delete it. In either case, check your Amazon account on the legitimate Amazon site. Chances are, the “fraudulent purchase” won’t be there.

The other recent scam I have gotten involves an email pretending to be from PayPal. It looks just like an invoice and says that you have spent a large amount of money on an expensive product. At the bottom, the “invoice” lists a phone number which you are supposed to call if you did not make this purchase.

The clues that the invoice is fake are that the invoice is poorly written in terms of grammar and punctuation and the phone number on it contains missing punctuation, such as 1800-555-5309 instead of 1-800-555-5309 (did you catch the missing hyphen?). If you are unfortunate enough to fall for the scam and call the number, you will be connected to a “customer service representative” who will ask to control your computer in order to “help” you. Never give anyone control of your computer. There are a lot of mean people out there in cyberspace, so please be vigilant.