Online conmen pose as workers from Amazon
FRAUDSTeRS have targeted ‘thousands’ of people with fake emails claiming to be from Amazon in a bid to get hold of their bank details.
The online retail giant last night warned anyone receiving the messages not to reply and to report them.
It insisted its database had not been hacked and that the con was a ‘phishing expedition’ which has been sent to email addresses at random. Phishing involves sending spoof emails to lure people to a fake webpage and share sensitive information.
One such email states that an Amazon order could not be delivered, while another claims the user has bought a product, adding: ‘If you did not purchase this item and want to cancel please click on the link below’.
The emails then take recipients to a page where they are asked to enter their bank details.
Although the branding on the emails appears to be genuine, tell-tale signs include spelling or grammatical mistakes. They are also not sent from an Amazon email address.
One customer, who lives in Coventry, received one of the bogus messages earlier this week – which claimed he had recently ordered a horticultural product costing £28.99 plus £7.99 postage and packaging.
he said: ‘When I contacted Amazon they acknowledged that there is “a very large” incident involving bogus orders purporting to come from the company being received by UK-based Ama-
‘Thousands hit by global scam’
zon customers. I was told their investigations team are looking into it “as a matter of urgency”.’
Consumer group Which? said the emails are believed to have been sent to thousands of people as part of a global scam.
It urged people who have received the emails to forward them to an address set up by Amazon – stop-spoofing@amazon.com – and, if they have lost money as a result, to contact Action Fraud, a division of City of London Police.
The phishing emails have also been reported in the US, where Mary Bach, a consumer advocate in Pennsylvania, said: ‘So many people are using Amazon now that randomly sending out emails gives scammers good odds of reaching someone who is actually waiting for an order.’
An Amazon spokesman said the emails were ‘falsified’ and ‘an attempt to convince customers to reveal sensitive account information’.
he would not reveal how many people are believed to have received them but said: ‘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 it would never ask for customers’ personal data through an email.
City of London Police, which targets financial crime, would not comment on whether it had received any complaints about the fake Amazon messages. The force advised people to avoid opening attachments or clicking on links in emails which are unsolicited or unexpected.
A force spokesman warned: ‘An email address can be spoofed, so even if the email appears to be from a person or company you know of, but the message is unexpected or unusual, then contact the sender directly to confirm that they sent you the email.
‘Never respond to emails asking for your personal information or financial details. Delete the email straight away.
‘If you receive an email which asks you to log into an online account due to suspicious activity on your account, instead of clicking on the link in the email, go directly to the website yourself.’