New Email Phishing Scam Targets Amazon Shoppers

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Be wary of emails you receive that appear to be from Amazon.

Scammers are attempting to steal personal and financial information by impersonating Amazon in emails, AARP warns.

The subject line of these emails reads, “Your Amazon.com order cannot be shipped.” The email body states there was a problem processing your order and “you will not be able to access your account or place orders with us until we confirm your information.”

The email also directs you to click on a link that will take you to what appears to be an Amazon webpage but is not. There, you are asked to provide your name, address, phone number and credit card info — all the details a scammer would need to use your credit card to make fraudulent purchases.

If you enter that info, you are then redirected to Amazon’s actual website, further leading you to believe you provided that info to Amazon rather than a scammer.

To view an image of a sample email and the page to which the email directs you, check out AARP’s blog post.

This scam is categorized as what’s known as phishing — “when internet fraudsters impersonate a business to trick you into giving out your personal information,” as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission defines it.

The FTC advises:

Don’t reply to email, text, or pop-up messages that ask for your personal or financial information. Don’t click on links within them either — even if the message seems to be from an organization you trust. It isn’t. Legitimate businesses don’t ask you to send sensitive information through insecure channels.

Amazon advises its customers similarly.

The e-commerce giant also notes that suspicious emails that are not from Amazon.com often contain:

  • Forged email addresses to make it look like the email is coming from Amazon.com. If the “from” line of an email contains an Internet Service Provider (ISP) other than @amazon.com, the email is fraudulent.
  • An order confirmation for an item you didn’t purchase or an attachment to an order confirmation. If you receive such an email, you should log in to your Amazon account and go to the “Your Orders” page to see if there is an order that matches the details in the email. If it doesn’t match an order, the email isn’t from Amazon.
  • Requests to update your payment information. If you receive such an email, you should go to the “Your Account” page and click “Manage Payment Options” in the “Payments” section. If you aren’t prompted to update your payment method on that screen, the email isn’t from Amazon.

For more tips, check out “7 Ways to Guard Your Wallet — and Identity — When Shopping Online.”

Have you received any phishing emails lately? Let us know below or on Facebook.

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