Amazon this week sent out an alert to its customers to avoid recent scam tactics that are targeting Prime members.
“Amazon will never ask you to provide payment information for products or services over the phone,” the company said in an emailed statement, adding that it further will “never ask you to disclose your password or verify sensitive personal information over the phone or on any website other than Amazon.com.”
The Seattle-based tech giant did not provide examples of the latest scams, but said that scammers “constantly devise new schemes, exploit new technologies, and change tactics to avoid detection.”
It noted that there have been more unexpected scam emails, text messages, and calls that attempt to get customers to pay “a costly membership fee” or make reference to a false “issue with your membership.”
Then, those messages ask consumers to confirm or cancel the charge. Instead, it’s an attempt by scammers to “convince you to provide payment or bank account information in order to reinstate a membership,” according to the company’s warning.
Some include text messages, emails, and even phone calls saying that your Amazon account or Prime membership was deleted or suspended. It also includes a fraudulent link or tries to get members to provide information verbally to “verify” their account.
“Customers who land on these pages or receive these phone calls are then lured to provide account information such as payment information or account login credentials,” it said. It then advises users not to click on links or provide personal details to people over the phone without verifying the call, text, or email.
Legitimate Amazon pages contain “amazon.com” or “amazon.com/support,” it says. Other links should be first verified before handing over information, the warning added.
Amazon also said that scammers will try to create a sense of urgency in a bid to get victims to click a fake link or provide them with information. “Be wary any time someone tries to convince you that you must act now,” the company said.
The company also says that people should “never pay over the phone,” adding that some scammers ask a customer to provide information, including about gift cards or so-called “verification cards” for services or products over the phone.
The Better Business Bureau reported 202 Amazon Prime-related scams and another 186 Amazon-related scams last year, including ones that mention account suspension, closures, and deletions.
Amazon’s recent Prime Day sale this month was “a huge moment on the retail calendar,” Josh Planos, vice president of communications and public relations at the Better Business Bureau, told The Associated Press earlier this month. “And because of that, it represents an enormous opportunity for a scammer, con artist or even just an unethical business or organization to capitalize on the moment and separate folks from their hard-earned money.”
And between July 2020 and June 2021, some 96,000 people reported being targeted by Amazon-related scams, while thousands reported losing $27 million via those kinds, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in 2021.
It noted that people aged 60 and older were particularly at risk of such scams, while younger people were not. Older people, meanwhile, were more likely to be scammed out of money than younger people, the FTC added.
Types of Scams
Scott Knapp, director of worldwide buyer risk prevention at Amazon, identifies two scams that the company has seen in recent years around Prime Day: Prime membership and order confirmation hoaxes.
Last year, for example, people reported getting unsolicited calls or emails saying that there was something wrong with their Prime membership. Then, they were asked for payment information, like a credit card, and sometimes login credentials as well, Knapp said, adding that Amazon “or any reputable business” wouldn’t ask for those details in that way.
Urging consumers to confirm an order they didn’t place is also a common tactic at this time of year, he adds. Scammers might pick something expensive, like a smartphone, to get attention and again ask for payment information or send a malicious link.
“We sell a lot of stuff and people know the (Amazon) name,” Knapp told the AP. “Bad actors try to take advantage of that.”
While there are other scams out there, it’s hard to identify more specifics for this year’s Prime Day before it begins. Still, experts add, scams will often iterate year after year. “Typically, the bones remain the same,” Mr. Planos said, pointing to repeating fake delivery scams, email phishing, and more. “It’s always a ploy to separate consumers from (their) personal and payment information.”
Online hoaxes are also constantly evolving to become more sophisticated, Mr. Planos and others warn. That means images might look more legitimate, text messages may sound more convincing, and fake websites are starting to look very similar to the websites they’re imitating.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
