“Suspicious Account Activity” Scam Reported to Amazon in 20+ Countries

Top scam to avoid. Among all impersonation scams reported by Amazon customers so far in 2023, fake messages about suspicious activity on your Amazon account rank as the top scam tactic, accounting for more than one-quarter of all the reports. This scam tactic, also known as “Suspicious Activity Scams”, has reached Amazon customers in more than 20 countries globally this year, including more than 15 in the month of July alone.

Scammers Impersonate Amazon to Steal Payment and Login Details

Details of the scam: Scammers send texts, emails, and phone calls stating that they have suspended or deleted your account due to “suspicious activity.” Then they prompt you to click on a fraudulent link or verbally provide information to “verify your account.” Customers who land on these pages or receive these phone calls are then lured to provide account details such as payment information or account login credentials.

Impersonation scams happen when a scammer pretends to be a trustworthy organization or individual to steal a person’s money or personal information. Amazon is committed to protecting consumers from impersonation scams and helping them protect themselves. Amazon will never ask you to disclose your password or verify sensitive personal information over the phone or on any website other than Amazon.com.

Please do not click on any links or provide your information to anyone over the phone without authenticating the email or phone call. If you have questions about your account status, go directly to Amazon.com or on our app to view your account details, including the Message Center which displays a log of communications sent from Amazon.

How You Can Stay Safe From Amazon Impersonators

Here are some important tips to identify scams and keep your account and information safe:

1. Always verify purchases on Amazon

If you receive a message about a purchase, do not respond or click on any link in the message; instead, log into your Amazon account or use the Amazon mobile app and confirm that it is really in your purchase history before taking any action.

2. Trust Amazon’s app and website

We will never ask for payment over the phone or email—only in our mobile app, on our website, or in one of our physical stores. We will never call and ask you to make a payment or bank transfer on another website.

3. Be wary of false urgency

Scammers often try to create a sense of urgency to persuade you to do what they’re asking.

4. Don’t be pressured into buying a gift card

We will never ask you to purchase a gift card, and no legitimate sale or transaction will require you to pay with gift cards.

5. Contact us

If you’re ever unsure, it’s safest to stop engaging with potential scammers and contact us directly through the Amazon app or website. Do not call numbers sent over text or email or found in online search results. Remember Amazon will not ask you to download or install any software to connect with customer service nor will we request payment for any customer service support.

6. Check what others are saying

See if anyone else has reported a similar situation. ScamAdviser.com has the following resources for consumers to check…

• A database of over 30 million websites of which over 2.5 million are identified as scams
• Approximately 25,000 websites are scanned and added to ScamAdviser every day
• Website search, trust rating system, and full website review.
• How & where to report fraud in your region
• Scam Alerts, Scam Trends, and information about trustworthy websites
• How to recognize a scam website advice, as well as tips and support
• Learning resources on the many types of online scams, including Online Shopping, Phishing & Identity Theft, Investment & Crypto, Romance Scams, and many more…
• Most importantly, the opportunity to report a scam!

If you receive correspondence that you think may not be from Amazon, please report it immediately. Customers can use the Amazon self-service tool to report something suspicious in just a few quick steps. If you are not a customer, you can still report a suspicious message to us at stop-spoofing@amazon.com. These reports give us information to identify bad actors and take action against them, helping us stop scams before they happen.

Abigail Bishop, Head of External Affairs for Scam Prevention at Amazon, said:

"We are committed to protecting consumers from scammers impersonating our brand, or anyone else's. That is why we are launching Scam Trends, to share real-time insights from our self-reporting tool on the latest scam tactics. We are pleased that other like-minded organizations are helping us spread the word so consumers can stay ahead of scammers."