If Amazon has contacted you to confirm a purchase you didn’t make or to tell you that your account has been hacked, you may be one of three people since July 2020 who reporting a business impersonator scam where the scammer was pretending to be Amazon, according to the FTC’s Data Spotlight.
While scammers impersonate a variety of businesses, the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel points to Amazon as a rampant favorite. Reports about Amazon impersonators increased more than five times from July 2020 through June 2021.1 96,000 people reported being targeted, with 6,000 saying that they lost money. Reported losses totaled more than $27 million, with a median loss of $1,000 to individuals.
While most people who report these scams say the scammer contacted them 2, some people have reported finding fake phone numbers while searching online for the number to call Amazon about a real issue. The scammers who answer calls to these phone numbers are happy to “help.”
The data suggests that Amazon impersonation scams may be disproportionately harming older adults. People aged 60 and up were four times more likely than younger people to report losing money to an Amazon impersonator over the past year.3 Older adults also reported losing more money, with a median reported loss of $1,500, compared to $814 for people under 60.
Apple is the second most frequently reported company after Amazon, but it’ still a distant second. Apple impersonators reportedly tell people their iCloud account has been compromised or that they’ve been chosen to get a free iPad. If that sounds familiar, it's because scammers change names but often use the same lies over again.4
There are several Amazon impersonation scams, including messages to call about suspicious activity or unauthorized purchases on your Amazon account.
Refund Scams
Scammers will offer to refund you for an unauthorized purchase, accidentally transfer more than they promised, then ask you to send back the difference. When you call the number, a phony Amazon representative tricks you into giving them remote access to your computer or phone to supposedly fix the problem and give you a refund. Then, they key in a couple of extra zeros, and too much money is "accidentally" refunded, so the scammer tells you to return the difference. Some people have even reported that the scammer even begged for help, saying that Amazon would fire them if the money wasn’t returned.
Scammers have reportedly accessed people’s online banking to make their lies about refunding the so-called overpayment more believable. The scammer moves people's own money from one of their bank accounts to the other, such as from their savings to checking account, to make it look like you were refunded. When people see a large deposit in their checking account, they think it’s the refund, but it’s all fake.
Any money you send back to Amazon scammers is your money, not an overpayment, and as soon as you send it out of your account, it becomes the scammer's money.
Gift Card Scams
Scammers tell people to buy gift cards and send pictures of the numbers on the back, saying that hackers have gotten access to their account and the only way to protect it is to buy gift cards and share the gift card numbers and PIN on the back of them. The scammers may call these numbers “blocking codes” or “security codes” and explain that sharing them can block the hackers who supposedly took over the Amazon account in question. The only thing those numbers are actually good for is getting, or in this case, stealing, the money on the card. After people send pictures of the gift cards, they often report getting texts confirming a supposed account credit in the amount of each gift card purchase. That’s just another trick scammers use to get their targets to buy more cards. Once the scammers get that information, the money becomes theirs.
Text Message Scams
People may receive text messages saying they've won a raffle for a free product from Amazon.
When they click the link to claim their free prize, they have to have to enter their credit card information to pay for “shipping.” Unfortunately, they soon see charges they never agreed to.
Here are ways to avoid common tricks Amazon impersonators use:
Never return calls to phone numbers given in unexpected calls, texts, emails, or messages on social media, and don’t click any links.
Check it out if you're concerned. Don’t trust the phone numbers or links that come up in search results. Go directly to Amazon's website to find out how to reach them.
Don’t give remote access to anyone who contacts you unexpectedly. That gives scammers easy access to your personal and financial information such as your bank accounts. Never give anyone remote access to your devices unless you contacted the company first with its real number. If someone tells you to give remote access to get a refund, it’s a scam.
Don’t pay for anything with a gift card. Gift cards are for gifts. If anyone asks you to pay with a gift card or buy gift cards for anything other than a gift, it’s a scam. Never send pictures of gift cards. If someone tells you they need the numbers on the back of a gift card, it’s a scam.
Don't be afraid or embarrassed to talk about it. If you’re getting these messages, so are people you know. Help them avoid the scam by sharing what you know.
If you have encounter an Amazon impersonation scam, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and if you think someone has gotten access to your accounts or personal information, the IdentityTheft.gov website gives you steps to take to see if your identity has been misused and how to report and recover from identity theft.
1 Amazon impersonator scam reports increased from 1,794 reports in July 2020 to 9,796 in June 2021. Amazon impersonator scams are defined here and throughout this Spotlight as reports from all sources to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network that are categorized as business imposter scams and name Amazon as the impersonated company. 2 About 70% of Amazon impersonator scams reported from July 2020 through June 2021 identified a phone call as the method of contact, followed by text (15%), and email (8%). These percentages exclude reports that did not specify a method of contact, 3 This age comparison is normalized based on the number of loss reports per million population by age during this period. Reports from consumers under age 18 are excluded. Population numbers were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Selected Age Groups by Sex for the United States (June 2020). 4 Prior to the increase in reports of Amazon impersonators, Social Security Administration impersonation scams were the most frequently reported imposter scam. From July 2020 through June 2021, reports about Social Security Administration impersonators totaled 80,797. The number of reports about Social Security Administration impersonators declined from 7,441 in July 2020 to 4,166 in June 2021. For more information, see the April 2019 Consumer Protection Data Spotlight, “Growing Wave of Social Security imposters Overtakes IRS Scam,” located at ftc.gov/spotlight. Amazon Spotlight (392.83 KB)
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