Warning over rise in Amazon scams
Amazon scams are on the rise as fraudsters use technology and psychology to trick their victims
MORE and more people are being targeted by Amazon scams. There are more than one and they are becomingly increasingly sophisticated.
Amazon is advising customers to visit the Message Centre on Amazon.co.uk or on the app to check if an email you’ve received has been sent by Amazon. If it isn’t there then it isn’t real. Verify your membership status, authorise payments, or make changes to your billing and account information, by logging into your Amazon account and go to Your Account. Customer Service is available 24/7 to help with any questions you may have.
Here are the most common scams to look out for.
Scammers pretend to be Amazon representatives contacting you about a problem with your account or order. Their goal is to get you to transfer them money or to trick you into giving away your account logins. They try to lure you with fake offers that appear to be too good to resist. Once you make buy they steal your credit card information.
Here are some of the most frequent Amazon scams:
Unauthorised purchase
A user will receive a phishing email or a phone call about an expensive purchase made from their account without their knowledge. Scammers usually use URL phishing techniques to make you think the situation is real. Their email contains a fake link to Amazon’s website or a phone number to call regarding the purchase. When users click on a link or call a number, cybercriminals disguised as Amazon representatives will claim that they need their credit card details to stop the transaction and cancel the purchase. If you give up your information, of course, they will then immediately drain your bank account.
Tech-support
Tech-support impostors can call users themselves or ask customers to contact them via a fraudulent email stating that there is a problem with their account. Then they can convince users to install malicious apps or software to fix the issue.
Amazon Prime
Scammers pretend to be Amazon representatives and start calling, texting, and emailing Amazon Prime members, warning them about problems with their accounts. The customers are asked to pay a fake membership fee or warned that their account was accidentally charged. Either way, the scammers try to get you to provide your payment details, more account information, and other sensitive data.
Malicious links
Malicious links also often come in the form of an email or an SMS message. It can look like a completely genuine message from Amazon, and will prompt you to click on a link and log in to your account to solve an issue. However, the website you’re logging in to is operated by hackers — you’ve just exposed your Amazon credentials.
Gift cards
A gift card scam occurs when scammers trick users into buying Amazon gift cards and exposing their card numbers. Fraudsters can then instantly redeem the gift coupons. The numbers are unique, so the buyer can no longer use them. This gift card scam is not unique to Amazon. For example, Steam gift card scams are also quite common.
Scammers think of various scenarios to convince you to buy the cards. They can impersonate a colleague or family member who has lost or forgotten their cards and need to make an immediate Amazon purchase. They could also tell you they or someone in your family is in trouble and needs financial help in the form of gift cards. They may also come up with fake charity campaigns in which gift cards serve as donations.
Mystery boxes
Scammers run ads on social media promoting Amazon boxes with mystery goodies at incredible prices. They are supposed to contain random valuable items from Amazon warehouses, given away dirt-cheap because of a clearance sale or inventory restock. The ads guarantee that these boxes will contain expensive tech, like smartphones, headphones, and watches from big tech companies.
This is obviously a scam because the ads lead to poorly designed websites with stolen logos, no contact details, and attention-grabbing banners. Users who fall for it give away their money, credit card data, and personal information but get nothing in return.
Payment scams
Scammers try to convince you to pay for your goods outside Amazon’s secure platform. They offer various discounts or extra stuff if you pay them via Western Union, Money Gram, PayPal, or wire transfer. But if you fall for their promises, you will see neither your money nor the products you ordered. Such sellers will most likely erase their accounts soon afterwards. Amazon also won’t help you much because the payment took place outside of its platform. PayPal scams are still very prevalent, so always be extra cautious when someone asks you to pay through third-party services.
Free gifts
The free gift scam comes as a message informing users that they’ve won a prize from Amazon but must click on a malicious link to get it delivered. The link, of course, is operated by criminals and will either inject your device with malware or steal your credentials.
Brushing
Some Amazon sellers who peddle sub-standard goods want to improve (or “brush up”) the listings for their products. To do this they need positive reviews so they will look for people’s personal information, create fake orders in their name, and send their products to them. This means the scammers have access to your name, home address and possibly your Amazon account as well. Accounts found posting fake reviews to boost sales may get suspended.
If you ever have any doubt an email, text or phone call is genuine, don’t reply and contact Amazon.