Amazon had issued a warning to their customers in response to the Amazon scam.

Basically, this is how the scam works:

  1. The scammer contacts an intended victim by email or by text message or via a fake Amazon web site saying something was charged to their account, providing a toll free number in the hopes that their intended victim will be confused and call.
  2. When an intended victim calls, he or she is told someone had placed an order and ask if a refund is required.
  3. The intended victim is then asked to log onto their computer and install a program that enables the scammer to access this computer.
  4. The scammer then asks for their victim to enter their Amazon login information and/or bank login information on their computer, which can be captured by the scammer for later use.
  5. The scammer then alters the sites accessed and misrepresents an overpayment for the refund, claiming an error was made on their victim’s end, requiring the “extra” funds to be sent to back to him or her, usually in the form of gift cards.
  6. The victim, which is predominantly targeted due to their age, is then coerced to purchase these gift cards using their own funds and are either asked to provide information from these cards or to send it to an intermediary that can not easily be found to be prosecuted.
  7. Finally, the funds are then either obtained from these gift cards by the scammer or the gift cards are sold by the intermediary, some of the funds of the sale being sent to the scammer using methods that may be untraceable.

As the above email confirms, Amazon will never ask for repayment by gift card, nor will they ask you for access to your computer or bank account. And they certainly wouldn’t hire people to scream at their customers using foul-language, nor would any legitimate company the scammers might use to perform this scam.

This scam is also not only dependent on a victim’s lack of knowledge in regards to technology, but the shame endured by the victim, which usually results in the victim failing to discuss or disclose his or her’s victimization to family, friends or the authorities.

To report any issue related to this scam, you can click here to contact Amazon.ca or click here to contact Amazon.com. You can also file a complaint with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center, which has been made aware of the scam via the RCMP in Manitoba in 2018. And please discuss this issue with your friends and relatives, to help curb this abuse.

Thank you.