Unless you’re one of the very lucky few, you’ll have noticed a marked increase in Amazon Prime scam emails hitting your inbox over the past few weeks.
They have always been common but it seems there’s been a definite uptick in scam emails hitting my inbox since the summer. Most of the messaging revolves around warning you there’s something wrong with the payment for Amazon Prime.
The problem is so bad, Amazon sent their own email to Prime members warning them of what’s going on.
It isn’t just emails either. Scammers are using email, text and even phone calls to try to scam you out of your money.
How can you spot the scams? How can you protect yourself against them?
How to spot Amazon Prime email scams
There are a few Amazon Prime email scams. There’s the Amazon Prime account lock, the failed payment for your subscription, the fake order email with something you didn’t order and even a suspicious login attempt email.
The good news is, that so far, the quality of the messages is really low. At least the ones I have seen anyway.
Otherwise, here’s how to spot Amazon Prime email scams:
1. Poor quality English
The easiest way to spot an Amazon Prime scam is because of how it’s written.
As the largest online retailer in the world, Amazon can afford professional copywriters. So obvious spelling and grammar errors within the email are a dead giveaway.
The emails I have seen are all written in poor English and has some strange phrasing, which is how you can tell it’s a scam.
2. Non-Amazon email address or URL
If you receive an email or SMS that doesn’t use the @amazon.co.uk or .com address, it’s a fake.
If the message contains a non amazon.co.uk or amazon.com URL (and any legitimate regional variations), it’s a fake.
Any message Amazon sends will be from the Amazon domain so will have the Amazon email address and URLs (web links).
Check the sender’s email address and hover the cursor over any link within the message to see who sent it and where they want you to go.
I ask you to hover over the link because it’s easy to spoof links. That means the link you see in the message isn’t the link you’re being sent to. Hovering over the link will show you exactly where you’re being directed to.
This works for all links, wherever you might be on the internet.
3. You’re being asked for personal information
Amazon knows who you are if you’re a customer and they have your information. They don’t need to ask for it again and won’t.
If the message asks you to ‘confirm’ your account details or enter your name and address for verification, it’s a scam.
Amazon won’t ask you for any personal information via email. Neither will they ask you for payment information via any medium other than your account on the website.
4. You’re being rushed
Trying to rush people into action is a key strategy for many scammers as they know we won’t always be able to think things through enough when we’re rushed.
Amazon won’t rush you. They’ll never send you a message that says ‘Hurry, act in the next 24 hours or your account will be closed!’ or similar messages unless it’s a sale promotion.
One, Amazon, and most other retailers, don’t operate that way. Two, they aren’t in a hurry.
If you close your Prime account, it doesn’t matter to Amazon. They have millions of other customers to keep them in business.
How to spot Amazon Prime phone scams
The vast majority of Amazon Prime scams are done through email. Millions of them can be sent at a time at a very low cost.
There is a cold call scam that has been around for a while though. It’s less common but it just won’t go away.
You’ll receive a robocall telling you there’s a problem with your Amazon Prime account and to press 1 to connect you to an account manager.
Then you’ll be put through to a human who will pretend to verify your account and tell you they need payment to reinstate your account. That payment seems to be £39.99.
The ‘account manager’ will then ask you for your personal details and your bank account number so they can take the payment. Somewhere during the call, they will also try to get your bank account password.
As you can imagine, this is a scam.
Amazon don’t really phone people in the UK. If they do, they would never, ever ask you for personal information aside from basic identification questions.
How to spot Amazon Prime SMS/message scams
The same goes for spotting Amazon Prime SMS/message scams. Any genuine URL will be amazon.co.uk or amazon.com and not ‘account-check-amazon.com’ or similar.
If you receive any type of SMS or message through other means, ignore it and check directly within your account.
If it’s fake, block the sender and go about your day.
How to spot Amazon ‘brushing’ scams
There’s another, less dangerous, but still annoying Amazon scam, called ‘brushing’. This is when an Amazon marketplace seller sends you a product you didn’t order.
The retailer will offer to let you keep the product in return for a goodwill positive review. Which is the whole point of that scam, to get positive reviews.
You don’t really lose out on this one, but it’s not permitted under Amazon rules and could influence other people to buy what is a defective or poor quality product when they otherwise wouldn’t.
What to do if you receive a scam message
If you receive an email or scam message from Amazon, delete it. That’s really all you need to do.
If you’re concerned about anything at all, delete the message anyway and then log onto your Amazon account separately through your browser using your stored favourite or the standard URL.
You can then check your account, any orders or any messages from there.
You can also report any scam emails to Action Fraud so they can track them if you want to.
I would also suggest enabling two-factor authentication to your Amazon account. It’s an extra safeguard should anything happen.
Rather than just logging in, you’ll also be asked for an SMS code Amazon will send to verify the login.
It’s an extra step you must complete every time you log in but it goes a long way to protecting your account.
It’s so effective, I strongly recommend two-factor authentication for every online account you have. It means you’ll always need your phone with you but can offer significant protection for your accounts!
