People are reporting a new scam in which you receive a phishing email that purports to be from Amazon, informing you that your account has been hacked and that you need to confirm account information in order to be able to continue to use your account and stop the fraudulent charges. Like many phishing emails, the scammer frightens you into thinking you must click on a link and provide personal information or suffer dire consequences when the truth is that if you click on the link or provide personal information, it is then that you will become a victim of identity theft as the identity thief will use the information you provide to make you a victim of identity theft. Alternatively, merely by clicking on the link provided in the email, you may download keystroke logging malware that will enable the identity thief to steal all of the information in your computer, laptop or other device and use that information to make you a victim of identity theft.
Here is a copy of the current Amazon phishing email presently circulating. It comes with the subject line of “Account Alert: Verification Required.”
“Greetings from Amazon.com.
Please take the time to read this message — it contains important information about your Amazon.com account.
We’ve noticed unusual activity in your Amazon account and it may have been accessed and used by a third-party from unusual location. It seems that someone obtained your personal account elsewhere, and used it on Amazon.com to access your account. Please note that no unauthorized orders have been made on your account and no information has been changed.
We need you to take immediate steps by providing an extra level of security to protect your Amazon account. Until then your account will remain limited to prevent any unauthorized actions. After confirmation your account access will be fully restored and will be available to use at your convenience.
Confirm Amazon Account Information
Possible reasons for receiving this message may be recent logins to your Amazon account from an unrecognized device.
Please note this is an automatically generated e-mail.
———————————————————————–
Sincerely,
Account Specialist
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com”
TIPS
Some of the tell-tale signs that this is a scam include the fact that the name of the person receiving the email never appears in the letter and that no logo of any kind appears in the email. Even if the email address from which it is sent appears legitimate, which is the case with this particular email, you cannot be sure that it is legitimate. As I have warned you many times, regardless of how legitimate any email or text message may appear, you should never provide personal information in response to such communication or click on a link in such communication because you can never be sure that the communication is legitimate. If you have any thought that the communication might be legitimate, all you have to do is to contact the real company at an address or phone number that you know is accurate and confirm the contents of the email.