Better Business Bureau warns scammers are getting more sophisticated with email
Tampa, FL (WFLA) — Be careful next time you check your email. One of them could be from a scammer masquerading as a trusted company.
According to Bryan Oglesby of the Better Business Bureau, scammers have been doing this for a long time, but they are becoming more sophisticated, copying the actual email from the company and creating their own to get you to click on the link. with a twist. And people are crazy about it.
“If an organization has a lot of brand awareness and trust, scammers will try to impersonate that company or brand because they know consumers are more likely to click on those links,” Oglesby said. says. “So Amazon was actually one of the top names mentioned in scams reported to the BBB Scam Tracker.”
Consumer researcher Shannon Behnken saw one of these emails on her work account. It looks like an email from Amazon customer service. She warned customers that email addresses were shared with third parties and that the violation was caused by a fired employee, she said.
At the bottom of the message was a big red flag. The email asked recipients to click a button to verify their account and find out if they had been exposed.
Shannon realizes that the email is almost identical to an actual email Amazon has sent in the past notifying customers of violations, but the email does not ask the customer to click a link. I did. Hovering over the address shows “noreply@accountactivity.com”.
Oglesby recommends verifying the sender by hovering over the address and not clicking on any links or calling the phone number provided in the email.
Instead, we suggest contacting the company through a verified email or phone number.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the email was not legitimate and sent the following statement:
“I believe this email is a scam. You can verify that it is a legitimate Amazon email by verifying that you are using an @amazon.com email address. Trying to impersonate Amazon Fraudsters put consumers and our brands at risk.”
Amazon, like many other well-known companies and brands, is often the target of this type of scheme.
Amazon has sent out the following tips for consumers to protect themselves.
- Confirm purchases on Amazon. If you receive a message about purchasing a product or service, do not reply to the message or click on any links in the message. Instead, log into your Amazon account or use the Amazon mobile app to verify that it’s actually in your purchase history before taking action.
- Trust Amazon apps and websites. We never ask for payment over the phone or by email. May only be done via mobile app, website, or physical store. We will not call you and ask you to pay on another website or make a bank transfer.
- Beware of false urgency. Scammers often try to create a sense of urgency to persuade you to do what they are asked to do.
- Don’t pressure yourself to buy a gift card. We will never ask you to buy a gift card. Nor do legitimate sales or transactions require payment with gift cards. For more information on common gift card scams, please visit our help page.
- inquiry. If you are unsure, your safest bet is to stop engaging with potential scammers and contact them directly through the Amazon app or website. Do not call numbers texted or emailed or displayed in online search results. Amazon will not require you to download or install any software to connect to Customer Service or require payment for Customer Service Support.
- Check out what others are saying. See if anyone else has reported a similar situation. In the US, Amazon has partnered with the Better Business Bureau to provide consumers with a searchable Scam Tracker. This allows you to search for suspicious communications reported by other users by email, URL, phone number, etc.
