Fraudsters pose as Amazon amid ‘explosion’ of scams

CRIMINALS are cashing in on heightened money worries by impersonating Amazon to steal thousands of pounds from victims, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute has warned.

The CTSI says there has been an “explosion” in scams, with fraudsters sending thousands of texts and emails a week to contact customers of the online sales giant and claim they are entitled to a refund or offer to help with a fault.

Once a victim clicks on a malicious link and enters their banking or personal details, the criminals steal huge sums or sell the data to other fraudsters.

Trading Standards said the messages sometimes claim that a £700 iphone has been bought using the victim’s account or £79.99 charged to their card to renew an Amazon subscription. It instructs the victim to follow a link, “secure their account” and cancel an order – which in reality will steal their details.

Katherine Hart, a CTSI officer, said that with the public more nervous about the cost of living, “a call out of the blue alleging suspicious activity is likely to worry most people” and criminals were ready to exploit “our fears and anxiety”.