Amazon customers are being warned over a scam that could see you unwittingly hand over your bank account details to fraudsters.
The online giant has continued to attract new customers during the pandemic, with most shoppers visiting the online retailer at least once a month.
This means most customers receive regular emails from Amazon, but it's important to be able to spot a scam email from a real one.
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Action Fraud has issued the warning after it received over 2,000 reports in one week about the fake emails purporting to be from Amazon.
The warning said: "Action Fraud has received over 2,000 reports in one week about fake emails purporting to be from Amazon.
"The emails claim the recipient's Amazon account has been "locked" and that they need to complete an "identity verification" process in order to unlock it.
"The links in the emails lead to genuine-looking phishing websites that are designed to steal Amazon login credentials, as well as personal and financial information.
"Your bank, or any other official organisation, won't ask you to share personal information over email or text.
"If you need to check that it's a geniune message, contact them directly. Spotted a suspicious email? Forward it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) - report@phishing.gov.uk."
How do I know if an e-mail is from Amazon?
Amazon has issued the following advice to customers on their website to help protect them against email scams:
Spoof or phishing emails are fraudulent emails attempting to get your personal information.
They are generally made to look like they are coming from Amazon. If you receive an e-mail claiming to be from Amazon, and you suspect it is a spoof or phishing e-mail, here are some things you can look out for:
- Amazon will never ask for personal information to be supplied by e-mail.
- Amazon will never request to update payment information that is not linked to an Amazon order you placed or an Amazon service you subscribed to.
Go to My Orders. If you aren't prompted to update your payment method on that screen, the message isn't from Amazon.
Amazon advises its customers to check the real sender address and domain by clicking the ender name in the field "from".
Amazon e-mails will always come from an address that ends @amazon.co.uk (e.g. shipment-tracking@amazon.co.uk, auto-confirm@amazon.co.uk, no-reply@amazon.co.uk).
If you purchase from another Amazon international website, the e-mail domain will reflect the country you are purchasing from (e.g. Amazon.de will have all communication coming from @amazon.de.)
