topic Re: Fake Amazon email in Community Chat

Fake Amazon email

happycat — Mon, 24 May 2021 00:16:18 GMT

Just looked at my email, I had an email from Amazon, saying they could not charge my credit card for my prime membership, that I would lose the membership if I didn't update my credit card info. The email looked authentic.

I knew I hadn't changed credit cards though, so I chatted online with someone from Amazon, they did NOT send me that email. I have ran a security scan on my computer and it did need updated.

This is just a reminde, it looked so real, it would have been easy to have fallen for it, especially if anyone had changed credit card numbers recently.

Re: Fake Amazon email

nana59 — Mon, 24 May 2021 00:18:53 GMT

i get that same email frequently.....

Re: Fake Amazon email

Love my grandkids — Mon, 24 May 2021 00:27:47 GMT

This is an ongoing scam.

Re: Fake Amazon email

Icegoddess — Mon, 24 May 2021 00:29:51 GMT

I get E-mails from Amazon all the time about different problems, often not even specific as to what the problem might be. They go straight to my SPAM folder thanks to Yahoo.

Re: Fake Amazon email

Skyegirl21 — Mon, 24 May 2021 00:54:45 GMT

Thank you for the alert @happycat . Appreciate you!

Re: Fake Amazon email

qvcaddition — Mon, 24 May 2021 02:15:06 GMT

@happycat

@happycat wrote:
Just looked at my email, I had an email from Amazon, saying they could not charge my credit card for my prime membership, that I would lose the membership if I didn't update my credit card info. The email looked authentic.
I knew I hadn't changed credit cards though, so I chatted online with someone from Amazon, they did NOT send me that email. I have ran a security scan on my computer and it did need updated.

This is just a reminde, it looked so real, it would have been easy to have fallen for it, especially if anyone had changed credit card numbers recently.

I get these a lot and send to Amazon. Got one from radio shack my item shipped. There is no Radio Shack.

Re: Fake Amazon email

happycat — Mon, 24 May 2021 02:40:24 GMT

@qvcaddition wrote:
@happycat
@happycat wrote:
Just looked at my email, I had an email from Amazon, saying they could not charge my credit card for my prime membership, that I would lose the membership if I didn't update my credit card info. The email looked authentic.
I knew I hadn't changed credit cards though, so I chatted online with someone from Amazon, they did NOT send me that email. I have ran a security scan on my computer and it did need updated.

This is just a reminde, it looked so real, it would have been easy to have fallen for it, especially if anyone had changed credit card numbers recently.
I get these a lot and send to Amazon. Got one from radio shack my item shipped. There is no Radio Shack.

Good grief. People are something else.

Re: Fake Amazon email

Tinkrbl44 — Mon, 24 May 2021 02:53:00 GMT

@happycat

Well, that's why we need to be on our toes with the constant scams that show up in our email.

I forward spoof emails to the REAL companies security email addresses ... such as spoof@paypal.com, etc etc to help them shut down the scammers.

It's so easy to help them by forwarding these emails as soon as they arrive, before many are taken for money or private information.

Re: Fake Amazon email

ECBG — Mon, 24 May 2021 13:19:03 GMT

@happycat @Tinkrbl44 @qvcaddition @Skyegirl21

@Icegoddess

I just heard about these emails on a news story this morning.

The companies would like screen shots of these emails so they can track them down to make their sites safer.

Re: Fake Amazon email

Linda0215 — Mon, 24 May 2021 14:57:50 GMT

I work for a bank and we are constantly being trained on how to recognize scams. Let me tell you, they are everywhere. You need to stop and question every alert that comes your way no matter how legitimate you think it is. Never, ever click on an email link, text message link, respond to a voicemail or give any personal information over the phone. You cannot believe how sophisticated these scammers can be. With that being said, there are things you can do to protect yourself. Hover your mouse over the sender's email address. It may look like it's coming from Amazon, but hovering your mouse reveals it's some random, nonsensical account. Check the grammar and spelling. Amazon or any legitimate vendor will not send anything out with poor punctuation or grammar. Don't fall for a sense of urgency in the request (someone poses as a family member on vacation and was robbed and needs you to wire money NOW). And most importantly, if anything you receive is questionable or doesn't make sense call the vendor, explain that your received this request and ask if it is legitimate. 100% of the time, it is not.

Re: Fake Amazon email

Spurt — Mon, 24 May 2021 15:49:56 GMT

It seems to me that with all the money that Jeff Bezos and Amazon makes they could do a better job of shutting down these scammers.....

Re: Fake Amazon email

happycat — Mon, 24 May 2021 16:03:37 GMT

@Linda0215 wrote:
I work for a bank and we are constantly being trained on how to recognize scams. Let me tell you, they are everywhere. You need to stop and question every alert that comes your way no matter how legitimate you think it is. Never, ever click on an email link, text message link, respond to a voicemail or give any personal information over the phone. You cannot believe how sophisticated these scammers can be. With that being said, there are things you can do to protect yourself. Hover your mouse over the sender's email address. It may look like it's coming from Amazon, but hovering your mouse reveals it's some random, nonsensical account. Check the grammar and spelling. Amazon or any legitimate vendor will not send anything out with poor punctuation or grammar. Don't fall for a sense of urgency in the request (someone poses as a family member on vacation and was robbed and needs you to wire money NOW). And most importantly, if anything you receive is questionable or doesn't make sense call the vendor, explain that your received this request and ask if it is legitimate. 100% of the time, it is not.

Thank you for those tips, @Linda0215.

Re: Fake Amazon email

Alexa6352 — Mon, 24 May 2021 17:59:18 GMT

@happycat I get the same E-mails and I don't have an Amazon Account..I get them about Paypal and once again I don't have a Paypal account...I guess they figure if they get one person to believe thm.they've had a good day!

Re: Fake Amazon email

chickenbutt — Mon, 24 May 2021 18:07:03 GMT

Linda really put it out there with facts!

One thing I would add is to NEVER EVER click on anything in these emails. Don't call any phone number that might be in the email.

If one wonders if it came from Amazon, or wherever, go to another browser window and go there. Don't ever use any links provided in these emails. Go with your own known url to the company.

It does help, as others have mentioned, to report them to the company and include the email so they can look through to find where it originated.

Re: Fake Amazon email

Mindy D — Mon, 24 May 2021 21:12:15 GMT

@happycat Take a screen shot of phony emails before deleting them. I also forward my phony email to Amazon. Forward to stop-spoofing@amazon.com

They need this to stay ahead of the scammers.

Re: Fake Amazon email

Mindy D — Mon, 24 May 2021 22:17:17 GMT

@Spurt wrote:
It seems to me that with all the money that Jeff Bezos and Amazon makes they could do a better job of shutting down these scammers.....

@Spurt @Even when Amazon and law enforcement track down the culprits they are often linked to foreign countries where law enforcement has no jusisdictiction. They frequently shut down and start back up somewhere else

Re: Fake Amazon email

Spurt — Tue, 25 May 2021 14:32:21 GMT

@Mindy D wrote:
@Spurt wrote:
It seems to me that with all the money that Jeff Bezos and Amazon makes they could do a better job of shutting down these scammers.....
@Spurt @Even when Amazon and law enforcement track down the culprits they are often linked to foreign countries where law enforcement has no jusisdictiction. They frequently shut down and start back up somewhere else

@Mindy D

A little bit of cash from Bezos would get some cooperation from these foreign countries....some of these foreign scammers have been shut down....Here's some success stories

Dept Of Justice News 11/20/20

“Working with our law enforcement partners around the globe we have successfully executed a large-scale, multi-jurisdictional investigation and prosecution targeting the owner and operator of an India call center scam industry and held him accountable for his illegal acts and deter similar scams in the future.” He has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for scamming U.S. victims out of millions of dollars. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $8, 970,396 to identified victims of his crimes.

Here's more--

The US has filed lawsuits against five companies and three individuals allegedly responsible for making hundreds of millions of fake robocalls to American consumers from abroad, mostly from India, and causing massive financial losses to the elderly and the vulnerable. "We are using all available tools and resources to stop foreign call center scammers - and for the first time their US-based enablers - from conning elderly and vulnerable victims in New York and throughout the United States," said US Attorney Richard Donoghue.

Dec 30, 2020---

A federal court has permanently shut down a computer scam that preyed on elderly Americans using call center operators in India resulting in losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Acknowledging India’s cooperation, Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark said: “The department is grateful for the cooperation of foreign law enforcement, including India’s CBI, in investigating, disrupting, and prosecuting technical-support fraud schemes and other schemes originating abroad and directed at the American public.”