Victim loses £750 in ‘convincing’ Amazon email scam – here’s what to look out for
Shoppers are being warned about a new 'convincing looking' email that claims to be from Amazon
FRAUDSTERS claiming to be from Amazon are sending "convincing" emails to shoppers in the UK.
Although it's unknown exactly how many people have been sent the email, Action Fraud, the UK's fraud and cyber-crime centre, said it had received several reports from people about the scam email.
The fake email, which come from “[email protected]”, looks similar to automatic order confirmation emails from Amazon, and claim that the recipient has made an order online which will be dispatched shortly.
Action Fraud said people had received emails claiming to be for orders ranging from an expensive vintage chandelier, to Bose stereos, iPhone's and luxury watches.
In order to get a shopper's financial information, the email states that if the recipient didn't authorised the transaction they can click on the help centre link to receive a full refund.
The link then leads to an authentic-looking website, which asks victims to confirm their name, address, and bank card information.
One victim had £750 stolen from his bank account after he entered his financial information into the website.
Luckily, his bank - Nationwide - cancelled the card he had used and refunded the money in full.
People have also taken to Twitter to say they had been sent the same email.
Amazon told The Sun Online that from time to time, customers may receive e-mails appearing to come from Amazon, which are actually false e-mails, sometimes called ‘spoof e-mails’ or ‘phishing e-mails’.
These can look similar to real Amazon e-mails but often direct the recipient to a false website where they might be asked to provide account information, such as their e-mail address and password combination.
"The best way to ensure that you do not respond to a false or phishing e-mail is to always go directly to your account on Amazon to review or make any changes to your orders or your account," the company said.
According to researcher Lee Munson, who works for security and privacy advice website Comparitech.com, there is another Amazon scam that shoppers should look out for.
He said Amazon UK customers should be vigilant about any post-holiday deals they find on the site, as they have already caught out one seller attempting to scam users out of money.
The merchant, called Sc-Elegance, primarily sells high-end electronics at significantly lower costs than they retail for.
But, when the shopper adds the item to their basket and checks out, it redirects the buyer away from Amazon to make the payment on another website, in a very convincing phishing scam.
Scam emails: what to look out for
Suspicious emails will often contain various red flag signs, such as:
- Links to websites that look like Amazon.co.uk, but aren't Amazon.co.uk
- Attachments or prompts to install software on your computer
- Typos or grammatical errors
- Forged (or spoofed) e-mail addresses to make it look like the e-mail is coming from Amazon.co.uk
- Requests for your Amazon.co.uk username and/or password, or other personal information - Amazon will never ask for this information to be supplied by e-mail.
Mr Munson said: “This particular seller has been reported a number of times to Amazon in its forums.
"While Amazon has taken some action to remove listings, the merchant keeps popping up again and again under different guises.”
He said that customers need to be aware that if they pay for goods outside of Amazon, they will not get the item and their money will be gone – and there will be no support from Amazon in getting compensation.
Amazon has since removed the Sc-Elegance listings, but Mr Munson says this has happened in the past and the merchant returns under a modified name.
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