Amazon shoppers need to be on the lookout for a bogus email which claims the online retail giant is giving away £1,000 gift cards. Action Fraud has received hundreds of reports from members of the public about this new scam targeting Amazon users. The email, which could be heading to a Gmail, Outlook or Hotmail inbox near you, claims Amazon is giving away these expensive gift cards and if the recipient wants to be in with a chance of claiming this they need to head to a specific website.
However, this is all just part of an elaborate con to get people to hand over their personal and financial information.
Once this has been obtained by bad actors it can be used for identity fraud or even stealing money from victims.
Warning people about the scam, Action Fraud wrote online: “Action Fraud has received 298 reports about fake emails purporting to be from Amazon.
“The emails claim that the recipient has won an Amazon gift card and asks them to use the provided link in order to receive it.
“The links in the emails lead to phishing websites that are designed to steal personal and financial information.”
While Amazon UK spoke to Express.co.uk about this scam, offering advice for readers on how to stay safe.
An Amazon spokesperson said: “Scammers that attempt to impersonate Amazon put our customers and our brand at risk. Although these scams take place outside our store, we will continue to invest in protecting customers and educating the public on scam avoidance. We encourage customers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe. Please visit our help pages to find additional information on how to identify scams and report them.”
The online retail giant also offered advice a number of helpful tips to spot a scam.
Here are signs a message you received is a fake…
Amazon will not request that customers purchase gift cards for any service
Amazon will not ask for payment over phone or email – only on our app or website
Amazon will not call and ask you to make a payment off of our website (i.e bank transfer)
Amazon will not ask you to download or install any software to connect with customer service
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