Customers of online giant Amazon are being warned about a scam that could leave them seriously out of pocket.
The warning comes after thousands reported receiving fake emails that could trick customers into handing over bank account details to fraudsters.
With millions of customers across the UK and regular emails being sent to subscribers, it is easy for scammers to slide, potentially unnoticed, into the stream of legitimate mail being received from the company. It is therefore important to be able to spot scam emails.
After Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, received over 2,000 reports in one week about fake emails purporting to be from Amazon, it issued a warning,
The warning said: “The emails claim the recipient’s Amazon account has been ‘locked’ and that they need to complete an ‘identity verification’ process in order to unlock it.
“The links in the emails lead to genuine-looking phishing websites that are designed to steal Amazon login credentials, as well as personal and financial information.
“Your bank, or any other official organisation, won’t ask you to share personal information over email or text.
“If you need to check that it’s a genuine message, contact them directly.
“Spotted a suspicious email? Forward it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) – report@phishing.gov.uk.”
So, how do I know if an e-mail is genuinely from Amazon?
Amazon has issued the following advice to customers on their website to help protect them against email scams:
“Spoof or phishing emails are fraudulent emails attempting to get your personal information.
“They are generally made to look like they are coming from Amazon. If you receive an e-mail claiming to be from Amazon, and you suspect it is a spoof or phishing e-mail, here are some things you can look out for:
Amazon will never ask for personal information to be supplied by e-mail.
Amazon will never request to update payment information that is not linked to an Amazon order you placed or an Amazon service you subscribed to.
“Go to My Orders. If you aren’t prompted to update your payment method on that screen, the message isn’t from Amazon.”
Amazon advises its customers to check the real sender address and domain by clicking the sender name in the “from” field.
UK Amazon e-mails will always come from an address that ends “@amazon.co.uk” – for example, shipment-tracking@amazon.co.uk, auto-confirm@amazon.co.uk or no-reply@amazon.co.uk.
If you purchase from another Amazon international website, the e-mail domain will reflect the country you are purchasing from. For example, Amazon.de will send all communication from an address ending with “@amazon.de”.
Read more: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/thousands-amazon-customers-hit-bank-23105609
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).
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