Amazon shipping email scam: how to stay safe
Amazon email scammers are trying to capitalise on the Christmas shopping rush by pretending there's a problem shipping their order.
Received an email from Amazon claiming there’s a problem processing your order? Chances are it's a scam.
The message, purporting to be from Amazon, claims there has been a problem processing your order and it won’t be shipped.
It adds that you won’t be able to access your Amazon account or place any orders until your information is confirmed either.
Naturally, there’s a link at the bottom of the page telling you to ‘confirm’ your account.
It'll take you to a fake website which looks very similar to the real one - when you enter your personal details, they’ll go straight to the scammers harvesting them.
Image credit: Hoax Slayer
Once you click the ‘Save & Continue’ button, you’ll automatically be redirected to the Amazon site so that you’re none the wiser.
The fraudsters can use your newly-acquired details to make purchases in your name, and potentially use your information to open financial products in your name.
Read more in our guide explaining what to do if you're a victim of ID fraud.
With Christmas just around the corner, it’s likely that many last-minute shoppers will have placed an order with Amazon and might be inclined to click the link in the email.
They only need a few people to fall for it to make it worthwhile.
Keep yourself safe
Be wary of any emails claiming you must open a link or an attached file to update details or fix an account problem.
Make sure you only enter your account details through the genuine Amazon website or through its official app.
Keep checking your online banks statements and monitor your credit report for anything unusual.
And as always, check the web address bar on the Amazon login page has https written in green with a green padlock next to it. That tells you that your personal data is encrypted.
Check your free credit report today
More sneaky scams:
Christmas toy shoppers targeted by Facebook scammers
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Comments
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Thanks for your input, Cnick. Actually I think this email may actually be sponsored content sent out by LoveMoney on behalf of "Unlimited Success - Empowering Greatness In Everyone." I notice that when I hover over the link it does point toward http://email.email.lovemoney.com/.... It falls under the category of FAR too good to be true, and personally I wouldn't touch it with a 10 ft barge-pole, but some people might, having seen the trustworthy source. So if LoveMoney don't sell our addresses on and they are actually pushing out this kind of crêpe without checking the credentials of the sponsor, they should hang their collective heads in shame.
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Lawrence A, That's interesting because love money is not exactly a mainstream website of the type usually faked for bulk phishing emails. They tend to pick websites used by a very large number of people, like BT, amazon, PayPal etc, meaning a good chance that you'd be customer or user of the genuine site. It suggests your scammer knew you used lovemoney. I've implied elsewhere that lovemoney are selling on personal data, which they denied. I'll take their word for that but it doesn't exclude them having been hacked or their data leaked by corrupt staff.
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Speaking of scams, I have an email from email.Lovemoney.com assuring me that I can make $5000 (yes, dollars) per month just by using Twitter and Facebook. Yeah, right! (Twitter and Facebook may be collectively referred to as Twitface)
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23 December 2016