According to this would-be notification email, which purports to be from Amazon, an order has been placed via your account.
The email includes the Amazon logo along with a description of the item you supposedly purchased. It urges you to click a link to “secure your account” if you did not place the order described.
However, Amazon did not send the email and no such order was made. The email is a phishing scam designed to steal your personal and financial information.
Less experienced Internet users may be tricked into clicking the link in the mistaken belief that they must urgently rectify a security breach or reverse a fraudulent order.
In fact, the link opens a fake website that has been built so that it looks like a genuine Amazon login page. After “logging in” on the fake site, you will be presented with a “security update” form that asks for your name and address, credit card numbers, and other identifying information. After submitting the requested information, you may see a message claiming that your account has been secured and the fraudulent order cancelled. Your browser may then automatically redirect you to the real Amazon website.
Meanwhile, criminals can collect the information you supplied and use it to hijack your Amazon account. Once in, they can use your account to make purchases in your name. They can also make fraudulent transactions with your credit card and potentially steal your identity as well.
This example is just one version of an ongoing series of phishing emails targeting Amazon customers. Be wary of any email that claims to be from Amazon and asks you to click a link related to a purchase that you know nothing about. Other versions may claim that there is a problem with your account that you need to deal with urgently.
It is always safer to access your Amazon account by entering the address into your browser’s address bar or via a trusted app rather than by clicking a link. If there is an account issue that needs your attention, you will most likely see a notification about it after you login.
You can read more information about identifying and reporting such scams on the Amazon website.
A screenshot of the scam email:
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
