The Amazon email scams come in many different flavors. Most scammers will customize their emails a bit, but many are identical. Here are four different fake emails, all using Amazon.com as the lure. Let’s begin with the Amazon survey scam, which looks something like this.
You have been selected to take part in improving our customer service for 2015. After you complete our 30 second questionnaire as a way to say “Thank You”, you’ll receive an exclusive reward worth over $50.
The reality is, there’s no Amazon customer service survey, no meaningful feedback will be provided to Amazon, and the only reward you’ll receive is a virus, malware, or having your identity stolen. In this case, the reward mentioned is not an Amazon gift card, but that’s also used frequently. Here’s an example.
Recent Visitors – Your amazon.com $100 – eGift (Ending soon)
Two Simple Steps
- Take (1) minute to answer 3 simple questions.
- Select your reward and activate your card.
There were three links in this email. Two went back to Amazon.com, the third went to a site owned by Victor Valenzuela from Daleville, AL. Before you start thinking that Victor might be running a legitimate company in good old Daleville, you should know that the website itself is hosted on a server located in Bulgaria. Yeah, that Bulgaria. The one right between Serbia and the Black Sea.
Another popular spam email is the one claiming your account has been locked. It will look something like the following.
We recently received multiple failed login attempts to your account. As a result, access to your account has been temporarily locked.
To unlock your account access, click: Sign In to My Amazon Account and proceed with the verification process.
Last, but not least, is the appeal to the old entrepreneurial spirit. It begins with lines like “Stop putting money in someone else’s pocket!” The email will include calls to action such as “Be your own boss.” Make no mistake, the only entrepreneurial spirit with these emails is their malicious intent.
My last Sunday Scam Tip was 5 tips to spot a bogus email. Use the link to view the post or, for those who are in a hurry, here are the highlights:
- Check to see who really sent the email
- Does the Reply To address match the sender’s address
- What does the content preview show?
- Scan the content for errors
- Look for really stupid mistakes
So glad I read this. I’m usually really smart about not clicking on links I don’t recognize or ask for but I got one today offering a free year of Amazon Prime for answering 3 questions. I almost clicked on it before I started thinking again and remembered the rule “if it seems too good to be true it probably is”.
Poor grammar and sentence structure is alway a big red flag.
I have recieved 3 of these text messages, I keep adding it to blocked numbers, but its filling up
I’m experiencing the same problem , block one of the fake Amazon and within a day or so another text message. I’m pretty sure Amazon wouldn’t have used a phone number identifying where the text came from.
fortunately it was just one day I blocked all 3 numbers
This was a text I got.
Hey beautiful, Amazon will send an awesome $100 reward / You will spend 1 minute filling this super short customer survey. Deal?
Thank you, I just received the email about the survey and decided to check into it first.
Aishah, you’re a very smart person. My credit account was wiped out by these scumbags last night. I’m glad you didn’t do the survey because if you did, you would most likely end up in my shoes. I was stupid. I thought, maybe Amazon does do these surveys. Was I ever wrong. There’s another scam survey these guys are doing. It’s from Walmart. Don’t open it, delete it
I did a survey last that popped up after I left seller feedback on Amazon. I answered 3 questions and was offered 5 different items to choose from for my participation. I chose some facial cream and paid 3.95$ for shipping. An hour later I checked my bank account and found three different businesses had changed me 3.95$. I contacted the customer service email for the survey company and they ignored my questions about the 3 different charges, but was told the only way I could cancel was that I had to pay the full price of the cream then they would cancel it. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything that ridiculous before. I have to pay full price for something I don’t want and will never receive? The 3 companies are Dermo ecrm, offra.com, and eshadgl*agingweb. I reported them to Amazon and they’re looking into it. Whoever reads this, don’t do the survey. A fool and his money are soon parted. In this case I was the fool.
Thanks for your advice about the scams. While some people dislike using credit cards, this is a good example of how using one can protect you. With a debit card (which is what it sounds like you used since they went straight to your bank account), you only have a short window to dispute charges, but even then you might not have recourse. With a credit card, you should be able to dispute charges like this and not be liable for 60 days. Let’s hope Amazon helps you out on this one!
Hi Terry, I actually used my credit card. I was surprised at how fast they withdrew the shipping fees. Fortunately, there’s a 48 hour payment pending wait term. I called the bank and they didn’t let the payments go through. The scary part is these companies now have my cc info. The bank and me are keeping a careful eye on any suspicious charges. If the bank sees something suspicious, they call and email me. The card is locked down until I call the bank and discuss the transactions.
The dubious Amazon email looks authentic, but after you think about, it does not make sense.. You know, why would Amazon participate in such a risky dink survey? Just for drill, I took the survey to see where it would lead. For my $50 reward, I could by male hormone pills, a non branded watch and other nonsense.
So one more time: If you don’t understand it, it is probably wrong.
Hi Allan, I posted the comment above yours. About 3 days after leaving my comment I was going to do some grocery shopping and I always double check my bank accounts before going shopping. I was shocked to see that these people cleaned out my credit account. The bank told me they had tried on 3 previous occasions to withdraw hundreds of dollars out of my credit account, but I only had about 60$ in credit when they tried. The bank refunded me the cash and have gone after the company(S). I cancelled my credit card and got a new one, but they’re still trying to get at my money. How they got the new card number is beyond me, but the bank has flags on my accounts and I’ve lost no more money. It’s a nightmare and I wish Amazon would go after these thieves, but as far as I know, they’re doing nothing. I suggested they should put a disclaimer on their site warning about this scam, but was told that it’s bad for business. I couldn’t believe that response. Their customers are being ripped off and Amazon doesn’t seem to care. I hope you don’t have to go through what I did, but keep a very close eye on your accounts. Best of luck to you and anyone else who has suffered from the Amazon scam.
Same thing received a text Amazon survey three questions received watch for $6.95 was charged for $98.41 today on my debit card called the bank reported it stop the card Bank refunded the money called the company they said I paid 6. 95 for shipping and handling and was billed $98 for a watch that maybe cost $5 to make threatened to call the BBB they will refund your money
It’s a good thing you called the bank right away, David. I’m glad you caught it right away.
With 26 percent of U.S. adults saying they are almost constantly online, according to Pew Research, this is now the most likely place for identity theft to occur. Often, ID fraud can begin with the wrong click on a scam email. How can you best prep to avoid online scams? By studying the most recent ones, and learning just why they re so effective. Here s an overview of the latest email scams that just might fool even the most experienced web surfer, along with simple things you can do to avoid and report them.
These people get you to let your guard down by using company names that you trust (Like Amazon). Having been trained in Corporate and Network Security. . . The simplest answer I have for blackbiz and anyone else on the internet is this: “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is”. remember that line and proceed with extreme caution once you acknowledge that reality. If you still choose to proceed make sure you seek out the fine print and read ALL of it. I’m not trying to berate anyone here, these guys are very good at getting your guard down and justifying their ludicrous claims. you just have to be better & Identify them. You worked hard for that money …protect it, call them up and verify their claim if it seems fishy or better yet just delete it.
My mother “won” a free iPhone on a amazon survey and had to pay 40 dollars in S/H fees. She got alerted by the bank that a transaction had been made 2 days after her purchase but the site never told her that any money was taken. And when I tried to find proof of a survey it did not exist. She put in all her credit card and address information,Should I expect a credit card theif ?
Hi Leslie, you should notify her credit card company immediately. They will likely cancel the card and issue her a new one. You could always watch for fraudulent transactions, but who knows how long those would take to show up. Better to be safe! Good luck!
I clicked on the lotion but then realized it was a scam and closed the window without giving any credit card info. Can I assume I’m safe? The most info they have is my email, zip, and phone number.
You are probably safe, Rebecca. Of course, any information you gave them they probably have. It’s also likely you’ll receive additional “offers.” Be on the alert!
Hi there, I’m so absolutely embarrassed that I fall for these things! An Amazon $1,000 gift card giveaway popped up on my phone and so I started to go through the steps to redeem it. I only entered in my name and email address and stopped finishing the entire process when I saw they needed more information and I was a little bit leery. But what should I do now or am I okay with them having the email address and name?
I just received the same message. Deleted it, hour latter same message, same response delete. How can Amazon condone this type of bullshi_?
This happened to me today. I completed what I thought was an Amazon Survey and selected the Buka Mens Grand Prix Watch. I was also charged $5 and change for shipping. When I called the representative told me that it was a 14 Day Trial and it started on the date of the order which was Jan 15th. I asked how is it ethical for you to start the 14-Day trial the day of the order instead of when the package arrives to the customer. The representative tried to offer me a discount off of the 3-Watch Collection. I asked for the supervisor who continued to make it seem that I was negligent and did not read the fine print. I told them that this was a scam, they did not disclose the cost of the watch, the 14-Day Trial is BS and if I did not receive a 100% Refund I would alert my Bank, Amazon and BBB. I was given a speech and then received two email while on the phone from them. One was a refund and the other was a cancellation of my account. I alerted my bank and will probably call Amazon to alert them as well.
This happened to me as well, although I chose the lotion stuff instead. My emails always showed Easter eggs for some reason and click on any one to choose a prize. I didn’t even open the lotion and was not told it was a trial until the package arrived and I read the instructions. Then I saw that the little 2 oz. jar was going to cost me an additional 86 after the 5 I paid for shipping. I called the company immediately and was very irate. They said full refund and cancel account and all. Next day, they took out of my account. I then received a 35 dollar overdraft fee from my bank. Called the company and was told it would take 3 to 5 days to show. Waited 5 days and got charged another fee from my bank. So I called the bank and they disputed it and gave us a temporary cash loan for 86. They took back their fees and eventually got the company. I’m still fighting with partsgeek.com, however. I returned a produce and never got refunded and now they say my order “never existed”. It’s wonderful. Glad you got yours back as well!
I cannot het this survey off my phone it took over my Facebook account. Help
If you have an iPhone, I suggest you try the Genius Bar at the Apple store. Android, I have not idea. You may need to wipe the phone clean and start from scratch, but that’s a very drastic move and should only be done after everything else has failed.
Terry, I just read the post about the lady having her Facebook account taken over. Would calling the police help? All these people are getting ripped off, including myself, can law enforcement help in a situation like this? These scammers are essentially committing bank robbery. What are your thoughts on this course of action?
Terry, I’m still getting emails on a daily basis to do surveys for Amazon, Walmart, Sobeys, Loblaws, Safeway, you name it. I know they’re scams, but it seems like one company is behind it all. I clicked on the sent from address, in this case it was an email from Amazon, but the real sender is a business called “ The Truth About Cancer “ I looked through their website, all the good deeds they’ve done, etc. I then read their privacy and business rules, you should read it. It essentially says they can steal with impunity and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. They’re also behind the survey scams of the other companies I mentioned. You might want to give your faithful subscribers a heads up about this and too always check the senders real address. Keep the great advice coming!
The best thing I’ve always done in these situations is called the company up and start threatening them. I’ve had it work for me a couple of times. They fully refunded my money and cancelled my account with them. I told them that it was a scam they were committing fraud and I would turn them into the BBB and that I have friends with the Federal Bureau of Investigations. I told them that I work with the federal police which in my case is true. And that I would turn them in if they didn’t fully refund my money and cancel my account. At first they tried to haggle with me told me they would give me a 10% refund I said no you will give me all of my money back you stole they said okay okay will give you a 50% refund I said no you’re only giving me half the money back you stole from me. I said you will give me a full refund they said okay okay will give you 75% refund back I said no I will turn you into the Federal Bureau of Investigations this is fraud you will give me 100% full refund back nothing less or I will turn you in! They put me on hold for a minute came back and said okay we will give you a full refund and cancel your account. I told them I would be monitoring my account very closely to make sure the money got put back and if not I would turn them into the people I work with in the government.
Did you ever get your money back? This happened to me but it has been one week and no refund.
I got one of these “surveys” and (stupidly) clicked on it to claim to $50, it then came up that I had 5 minutes to click again to start the survey. At that point I realized it wasn’t good, stopped, and deleted the email. Do I have anything to worry about?
Probably not, Joe. Most of those are trying to get you to enter information, so if you didn’t provide anything, that’s good. On the bad side, they’ll now know your email address is “good” and you may wind up on more email lists.
Thanks Terry! I did scan with Malwarebytes and it came up clean. As far as being on more lists, it’s not hard to just delete 🙂
i was scammed from an amazon survey for 97 dollars,, on line,, said pay only postage got the ugly watch but took 97 bucks out of my account…. will not refund money.. bunch of oriental crooks out there..d0 not take surveys
Just for curiosity, after I received an email Expiring Soon:Your $50 Amazon Reward
WA Welcome to Amazon.Survey
Reply|
Today, 9:38 AM
sam.olivo@yahoo.com
Googled it and was told that Amazon DOES do some surveys this way so I decided to tried it. Answered a few questions (nothing as to credit card numbers or anything) but as to how I like Amazon, was I happy with it, my age group, etc. When through it offered me NOT the $50 reward promised, but my choice of several items that were supposedly FREE, but I WOULD have to pay shipping. Declined as it seems to be more of a come-on just to get you to buy their junk (most of the offers were junk – from beauty aids to male enhancement). There was an IPOD pro, but conveniently it was “sold out.” TOTAL SCAM !!!
Too bad you don’t allow images here or I would have sent you theirs. At the bottom of the email it says
: IT DYNAMOS @ 1050 E 2ND STREET #245 EDMOND, OK 73034 UNITED STATES
Got a link in my text for free watch after completing a survey.Is this a scam $6.00 for shipping 49.95 in value
YES! I did it on Jan 8th and they sent me a $6 watch.. I paid the shipping with my debit card and today (Jan 22, 2018) i got a charge for $98.41 on my card from the same address I paid the $6 too..
Sorry to hear you got scammed, Clifton. Talk to your bank ASAP. You may or may not have time to avoid payment. You’ll also want to talk to the bank about how to avoid future charges from these guys in the future. Otherwise, they might tap your account again.
Hello,my name is Stephanie Summarell and I despertaly need your help.As you may know there are several websites that if you do surveys,games,ect…you receive coins or points.Like example Lucktastic,Shopkicks,Applike…ect.Anyway back on May 11,2017 I won a $500.00 gift certificate from one of my sites and placed it into my account.Within seconds of placing my money into my account,someone hacked in while I was on site and stole every cent.I called and reported it.Amazon found the person,name,IP address ect,and said they would get my money back to me.I am still waiting on that refund.Then over the months of May – August cashed in all my points and bought and saved all of My gift certificates which were in the amounts of $300, $250,$100.So finally on August 28th I made my very first purchase since 2013.Everything went very smoothly.Then on August 30,2017 I decided to purchase 2 rings (Which both were paid for in full)for my husbands and I’s anniversary.The transactions went through without a problem…transcation number:112-6509396-4126615..which was a total amount of $182.20.The second transcation number…112-5191015-3341017 which was a total amount of $289.00.This is where things start to take a turn for the worse because I went to go back into my account because I was going to buy my sons kindergarten teacher more supplies for her classroom.It was then that I seen the notice that stated my account had been frozen which in turn canceled my fully paid for items.I didn’t seem to understand why this was happening so I tried to call an my phone number had been blocked as well.So,I picked up my husbands phone and called customer service and was blown off by anyone and everyone.Finally I spoke to an account specialist by the name of Mike and her was a real winner and treaed me like crap.He told me that they canceled all of my orders and if I wanted the items I would have to repay for them.So,I wrote the CEO Jeff Beazo and explained the situation.My account was unlocked quickly.After reinstatement of my account I found emails in my order section that showed he had put holds on all my prepaid gift cards that I won and said that I was never suppose to have them because the MasterCard they were bought with never went through.They were won from a website and not purchased on a mastercard.I then also seen where this Mike person placed a hold on my $500 that had been stolen from me on 05/11/2017(Transation number- 113-2811986-6694661) as well my $250.00 gift card …transaction number 112-9063034-1745059 from 08/13/2017,then transaction number…113-3936114-9165053 which was my $300.00 gift card,and finally on 05/11/2017 and lastly my $100.00 gift card…transaction number 113-4527906-3070637..Now they are stating that they don’t owe me anything and They have no knowledge of my gift cards.I took pictures of my messages with my cell phone when I pulled up my account on my mothers laptop.Amazon has been slowly deleting my messages and I can’t find my order now.Lucky for me I wrote all of the order numbers down.They aretrying to sacm me out of a total amount of $1621.20.Something needs to be done with this company.I have contacted the better business bureu in regards to this matter but with no call back.I hope that you can help me resolve this problem.I just want my money,hopefully in a check so I can just buy my items on Ebay.com.I would even be happy with them placing the money into my paypal account.I hope reaching out will help me.Have a great day and thank you for letting me write my concerns.
Hi Stephanie, sorry this took so long to get back to you. I had a problem in receiving comments through my website. I hope this has been resolved for you by now, but if not, you should file a complain with the IC3.gov. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to help you get your money back or not, but they’re the best ones to handle something like this.
Interesting information. I am always getting emails that my Yahoo account will be closed immediately if I don’t press on this link. You have to be very careful these days!
How can I stop the gift card scam that pops up Everytime I visit a site. I have a att tablet that I am not happy with.
Sounds like cookies on the tablet are being used to track your activity. Try doing a search for “ATT tablet cookies” and see if you can turn them off.
Trial flashlight $4.95 charged $49.95 4flashlights who needs four flashlights
gifteena.com how doI get out of ship men charege
You can try contacting the company, but that may not do a lot of good. If the company refuses to do anything and you paid by credit card, you can dispute the charges and may have some luck there. But, once you’ve placed the order and paid for it, you’re really at a disadvantage.
thx for the heads up. i just cant it off my phone. heip james
Terry, thanks for the Amazon link, I used it yesterday.
YES, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE INFORMATION. THE OLD SAYING IF ITS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT ISN’T STILL APPLIES.
Yes. And these scams, along with the “millions” being held in ______ (fill in the blank) which only requires that I wire $_____ to _____ (a couple more fill-in the blank) so that these funds can be transferred to my bank. I just delete them. It’s nonsense at the outset…usually filled with improper syntax, bad grammar, and the like….
You’re right, Charles, these are nonsense. Unfortunately, many people get caught by inattention and a lot still suffer from the “what if it’s true” mentality. Then, there’s the problem of the spam getting better and better. That’s what worries me. The newbies who are just getting started are easy to ferret out, it’s the ones who have been around a while and no longer make those beginner mistakes that are the real problem. Thanks for the comment!
Thank you Terry, I did not know that, I will definitely forward these email to amazon.
I get these emails frequently and I am just sick and tired of getting them. Is there someone we can forward them to, to report this abuse. I think it is a form of stalking.
Hi Marjorie, I agree that these are major pain. Unfortunately, they come from all over the world and there’s not much you can do for most. However, when they’re tied to a specific organization such as Amazon, the company may be trying to eliminate the source. For instance, Amazon has a way to report these emails. Their procedures are at http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_v4_sib?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201127830. Some companies have similar reporting systems in place, so one way to check is to search online for the company name followed by “email abuse”.