Community Chat

[PA Mom-mom]

@Cats3000 Thanks for the warning! It's always good to have a reminder about these things. Keeps us on our toes!

[Tukey]

A friend of mine got a similar e-mail from Paypal regarding account locking, etc.  Problem is he has never used Paypal...scam!

[software]

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@AngelPuppy1 wrote:

I used to feel really secure when I shopped there, but lately I have been hearing about all types of things and I don't feel they are any safer or better than any where else!!!!!  For such a huge place and getting more huge all the time, they best be spending some more of their time and energy on increasing security and safety of their site, as opposed to seeing how much bigger they can get and how many more companies they can buy!!!! 

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Just like QVC putting all their resources into adding channels like Q2 and the Beauty channel but letting their website go to krap along with their shipping & returns.

[Montana]

I got two Amazon scam emails this week.  They referenced order numbers I knew were fake. I trashed them.

[Georgiagrama]

Thank you for the warning - and the reminder about this type e mail.  I know better, and I am usually vigilant, but a reminder is always good.  I do order extensively from Amazon, and have never once had a problem that wasn't immediately resolved to my satisfaction, so I am more likely to open a non legit e mail from them than any other place.  

Thanks again for the warning. 

[ThinkOutsidetheBox]

I got the same kind of "locked account" email warning supposedly from Navy Federal Credit Union yesterday. I knew better, but it made me wonder who is trolling my data stream to see what websites I visit in order to know what types of scam emails to send me. I am seriously thinking of either getting a VPN subscription to encrypt all my data, or to start making use of the special encrypted browser options provided with Kaspersky or Norton security suites. I am sure other security suites provide those special encrypted session browsers too, I am just not familiar with them. As a matter of fact, I think Firefox web browser might offer that option now too. I am not sure. Either way, since the majority of general web browsing data is not encrypted, these crooks can monitor the data streams and notice where you go, then customize emails to trick you.

[Plaid Pants2]

Nothing is 100% hack-proof.

[garmer]

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@software wrote:

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@AngelPuppy1 wrote:

I used to feel really secure when I shopped there, but lately I have been hearing about all types of things and I don't feel they are any safer or better than any where else!!!!!  For such a huge place and getting more huge all the time, they best be spending some more of their time and energy on increasing security and safety of their site, as opposed to seeing how much bigger they can get and how many more companies they can buy!!!! 

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Just like QVC putting all their resources into adding channels like Q2 and the Beauty channel but letting their website go to krap along with their shipping & returns.

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I don't know what Amazon could do about the scam emails. They're coming from impostors, not Amazon. How can they be expected to stop them. I could pretend to be Amazon and send out fake emails.

Since the emails are about orders that don't exist, that would tell me that the accounts of the email recipients haven't been breached. Does that make sense? I know what I mean, don't know if I said it right.

[Moonchilde]

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@AngelPuppy1 wrote:

I used to feel really secure when I shopped there, but lately I have been hearing about all types of things and I don't feel they are any safer or better than any where else!!!!!  For such a huge place and getting more huge all the time, they best be spending some more of their time and energy on increasing security and safety of their site, as opposed to seeing how much bigger they can get and how many more companies they can buy!!!! 

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It has nothing at all to do with the security of Amazon's site. It is scammers using the name "Amazon" (or Bof A, or Walmart, or Apple, or whomever) because it's a huge organization with instant recognizability.

Scamming is completely unconnected with the business or its website. The scammers only use the company's name,  period.

If someone used your name to steal $10,000, but you had nothing to do with the theft, is that your fault? Was there something you "could have done/should have done/should have known?" Or is it just big companies that shoulda/woulda/coulda? 

The names of banks, loan companies, even govt organizations are used by scammers. It's not "up to" them to stop it. It's a worldwide issue. Most of the scammers are in other countries. How do you stop someone in a country that may have no laws against the scamming, or have govt or LE that just doesn't care? 

Individuals need to be aware, which is why reminders are a Good Thing.

Blaming the victimized company is silly. Scamming is not necessarily the same as hacking and most of the time redirects spoofed addresses.

Not directing this to anyone in particular, but not everything in life is someone else's, or some company's, responsibility. I've seen comments where people blame Harvey's destruction on govts and infrastructures (or lack of them). No governmental body can prevent or greatly mitigate every single conceivable natural disaster, now or in the future. "Could have been prevented?" Most probably not. People need to learn how to take responsibility, in general, and not be always looking for someone or something else to blame.

[dooBdoo]

            @Moonchilde and @garmer,  I agree completely.    Just as we've seen in the plethora of threads angrily blaming and threatening QVC because of spoofed email spam, the companies discussed in this thread who are being impersonated are not at fault and have no way to stop this mail.    

            Most of the time the actual senders are criminals located outside the USA and are difficult, if not impossible, to find and prosecute.    It's our responsibility to learn about the tools we use -- and email is one of those tools.   By hovering the cursor over the sender name, or learning to look at and understand full message headers, we can identify the actual sender and block them.    We also can, if we want, use the report-spam/report-phishing feature to notify the email provider.   And we can forward the message to the FTC, the business being spoofed, and other spam-watch groups -- but it only helps if we include the full headers with each message.

            These scams are old, pervasive, and they won't stop.   It's good for these threads to remind us to educate ourselves and to be watchful.