Ariel Reid’s 65-year-old mother recently bought an air fryer on Amazon. Then her phone lit up with a text: It had an order number, told her to stop using the product right away and offered a refund if she’d just tap a link.
She assumed it was about the air fryer. It was bait.
Reid, vice president of customer experience at GCH Technologies, told AARP the giveaway was hiding in plain sight. The text never mentioned an air fryer. It referred only to “a product from your recent order.”
That’s the fake recall scam, and AARP laid it out in a September report. Patrick Coughlin, CEO of cybersecurity firm Savi Security, told AARP that roughly 9 in 10 of the recall scams people have reported to it use Amazon’s name.
It’s a smart con, and that’s what makes me angry. At any given time, millions of us have an Amazon order on the way. Everybody wants a refund. And a safety warning can make you act before you think.
Amazon says 360,000 customers a year contact it just to ask whether a message really came from the company, according to AARP. Meanwhile, imposter scams cost Americans a reported $3.5 billion in 2025, and nearly $1 billion of that went to crooks posing as businesses, the Federal Trade Commission reported.
I’ve been writing about money since 1991, and I can tell you this playbook never changes: borrow a trusted name, add a deadline, dangle cash. Here are five signs the recall in your messages is a fake.
1. It doesn’t say what’s being recalled
This is the biggest tell, and it’s the easiest one to miss when your heart’s racing.
A genuine recall is specific. Reid told AARP that real ones name the item and give you model numbers. Chris Harvey, a senior vice president at claims-management firm Sedgwick, said the fakes usually leave the product out.
Think about why. A crook blasting out thousands of texts has no idea what you bought. So he writes something vague — “an item,” “your recent purchase” — and lets your memory fill in the blank.
If the message can’t tell you what product it’s about, you’ve got your answer.
2. It showed up as a text
Texts aren’t how this business usually works. Harvey told AARP that manufacturers typically send recall notices by email or regular mail, and that recall texts are rare.
Rare isn’t never, so a text alone doesn’t prove it’s a scam. But it should put you on alert, especially when it comes from a number you don’t recognize.
Email isn’t automatically safe, either. Amy Nofziger, senior director of fraud victim support at AARP’s Fraud Watch Network, says these lures arrive by email as well as text, dressed up as a trusted brand. The channel is a warning sign, not a verdict.
3. It dangles a refund behind a link
Here’s the hook that makes the whole thing work: money for nothing.
The FTC warned in July 2025 about texts posing as Amazon that claimed a “routine quality inspection” had flagged something you bought, or that it had been recalled. The pitch: Click to get a full refund, and you can even keep the item.
There’s no refund. It’s phishing.
It’s a close cousin of the fake Amazon refund texts that made the rounds in summer 2026.
Watch for the pressure, too. A real notice might tell you to stop using a dangerous product right now. A fake one pairs that urgency with a link or a phone number it wants you to use immediately. That’s the part to refuse.
Quick gut-check — if your money advice is coming from random online influencers, you’re playing a dangerous game. I’ve been a CPA since 1981 and writing about money since before the internet existed. Sign up for the free Money Talks Newsletter and get expert advice that’s been tested by time.
4. It wants your password, card number or Social Security number
This is where the trap snaps shut. Nofziger described how it unfolds: You tap the link and land on a phony website. From there, AARP says, you’re asked for personal details, account logins or card numbers.
A legitimate recall won’t ask for any of that, according to AARP. Not your login, not your Social Security number, not your bank information. And it won’t charge you a processing fee to get your refund.
Think about how absurd that is. A company that sold you a dangerous product is going to bill you for the privilege of returning it? No legitimate recall works that way.
5. You can’t find it anywhere official
Every real recall leaves a paper trail you can check without touching the message.
Start with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Its recall database is searchable, and you can sign up there for recall emails. If you’re drowning in recall headlines, here’s how to tell which recalls are worth worrying about.
Then check Amazon itself. Open the app or type the website address yourself, and look for problems or recalls on your orders, the FTC advises. According to AARP, Amazon also keeps a product safety alerts page that shows recalled items from your purchase history.
Still not sure? AARP says you can forward a suspicious message to [email protected] for an assessment, or ask the company’s Alexa for Shopping scam-detection tool.
Already got one? Report it
Don’t reply and don’t tap. Forward the text to 7726 (that spells SPAM), the FTC says, or use your phone’s “report junk” option. Then delete it.
Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and send the details to [email protected], per AARP. If you lost money, AARP also suggests filing a police report and a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3.gov).
If these messages are burying you, here’s how to shut down spam texts and robocalls.
Already clicked? Move fast
Don’t waste time being embarrassed. These crooks are professionals. Here’s what the FTC says to do, depending on what you handed over:
- Card number: Call your card issuer right away, using the number on the back of the card, and ask for your money back. If it was a debit card, call your bank or credit union.
- Password: Change it, change it anywhere else you used it, and turn on two-factor authentication.
- Social Security number: Go to IdentityTheft.gov for a recovery plan.
- Nothing, but you tapped the link: To be safe, update your security software and run a scan.
If your Social Security number is out there, I’d also freeze your credit at all three bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. A credit freeze costs nothing to place or lift, and it won’t hurt your credit score, according to the FTC.
And if you’d rather have someone watching your back from here on, you can compare identity protection services in our Solutions Center.
Bottom line
A real recall tells you exactly what’s wrong, shows up where you can check it and never asks you to pay or log in through a text.
So when your phone says something you bought is dangerous, don’t panic and don’t tap. Go look it up yourself. Thirty seconds of checking beats months of cleaning up after a thief.
Add a Comment