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Amazon Scams Come in All Shapes and Sizes. Are You Prepared?

Amazon Scams

Is it any wonder that cyberthieves and fraudsters seem to love Amazon scams? After all, nearly all American consumers have integrated the convenience and cost savings of online shopping into their lives.

In fact, you’ll be surprised by the statistics… just how much we spend and how often we have packages delivered to our homes or offices. And you’ll start to realize not simply why fraudsters love Amazon scams, but also why so many people are duped by their schemes.

  • According to the Federal Trade Commission, as many as 10,000 people a year report a scam to the FTC. However, since scams are severely under-reported, the actual number is surely in the hundreds of thousands.

You might be the next victim of these Amazon scams, which is why we wrote this article. This goes beyond people who brazenly steal packages off your doorstep—porch pirates: this includes a wide range of schemes and traps that involve Amazon at the heart of the deceit.

Scammers have all kinds of ways to fool online shoppers year-round, not simply at opportune seasons. The tactic they might try on you might be one of these common scams. 

  • Fake texts about Amazon delivery notices.
  • A fake IRS agent directing you to buy Amazon gift cards for back taxes.
  • Messages about Amazon refunds you’re owed.
  • Text or emails about your Amazon account being suspended.
  • An opportunity to win a free Amazon gift card by completing a survey.
  • Special and fake deals around Christmas time and Amazon Prime Day.

Here’s why Amazon Scams are good for criminals.

According to information from Chain Store Age, in the 12 months before July 1, 2024, 83% of U.S. homes made at least one purchase through Amazon. That’s just for starters:

  • The average household arranged for 71 deliveries over that time span, spending around $2,700.
  • The average shopper using Amazon will place an order about every five days.
  • A high percentage of Amazon users pay a monthly subscription (around $15) for an Amazon Prime account to get free deliveries, exclusive deals, and other special benefits.
  • It’s estimated Add 75% of Amazon customers have an Amazon Prime account. That equates to around 200 million subscribers in the U.S.

Need to report a scam. Learn more now from our article.

What to do if an Amazon Scam victimizes you.

Tell Amazon ASAP if you’re a victim of a delivery scam. Amazon takes fraud and scams quite seriously and offers a range of services on its website to help you stay safe. They have a page dedicated to protecting their customers from scams.

  • Report a message or call you receive that you know is a scam
  • Report a suspicious product or seller
  • Tell them if you see suspicious activity in your Amazon account
  • Inform Amazon when you receive packages you didn’t order (unknown packages)

Where else can you report online shopping scams?

One of the things we’ve stressed at WhatIsMyIPAddress.com is to report a scam or near scam you’ve encountered. It helps authorities understand where scams are occurring and may help stop them.

Most people don’t know there are a handful of places where they can report scams, including those involving online shopping.

Some agencies have the investigative resources and legal authority to pursue, identify, and stop scammers. Other organizations can offer data and statistics that catch scammers and even help recoup stolen money. Click here to find a list of the many organizations where you can report an Amazon scam. Scroll down the list till you see “online shopping scams.”

You’ll need to be prepared to report the scam properly. To refresh your memory and organize your thoughts, we created an exclusive guide. You’ll find our Scam Report Preparation Guide here.

Tips to protect yourself from Amazon scams.

The infographic above provided a clear visual overview of the common tactics scammers use to impersonate Amazon. Here are a few additional important rules to follow to protect you.

  1. Never buy Amazon gift cards to pay for anything other than products sold on Amazon. Only a scammer (such as a government or IRS imposter) would tell you to purchase Amazon gift cards and hand them over as payment of fees.
  2. Ignore urgent messages and never respond directly to them on the platform where you receive them. If there were an Amazon issue involving one of your orders, you’d see it online in your Amazon account. Instead of replying to a message about a delivery, open your Amazon account to see what’s real and what isn’t.
  3. Double-check that the website or webpage address includes Amazon.com.” Always check that the web address is real and not a fake URL. When you’re expecting an important package, you may be super concerned about it arriving on time. If a scammer happens to time his fake message, then you might fall for it.

When in doubt, examine the website or webpage listing closely!

This single tip could save you plenty of grief and money. An actual Amazon page on the website will ALWAYS contain a period or “dot” (.) right in front of “amazon.com.”  In other words, you can trust https://www.amazon.com” and https://pay.amazon.com.

But here are some fake web addresses that could fool you if you’re not looking closely enough.

  • Intentional and tricky misspellings in the URL, such as amazom.com, arnazon.com, or amzon.com
  • Hyphenated addresses, such as amazon-2025.com, amazon-helpdesk.com, etc.  

Visit our Learning Center for more resources.

To learn more about avoiding scams and finding resources that can help you, visit the WhatIsMyIPAddress.com Learning Center and explore the available articles and interviews.

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