Beware of the Latest Amazon Scams

Another reminder that you should never let your guard down when it comes to navigating the online world.

This week, Amazon is notifying its Prime members of a new scam that's making the rounds.

The company says the fake communications are in regards to billing:

'These are unexpected emails, calls, and texts from impersonators that often refer to an unauthorized charge for membership or notice of membership expiration. They ask you to verify your account by providing personal or payment information.'

Amazon warns customers that scammers are using fake email attachments claiming that they are being charged a costly fee.

You are advised to visit the Message Center on Amazon.com or on the Amazon app to review authentic emails from Amazon. You can also verify your Prime membership status, authorize payments, or make changes to your billing and personal information by logging into your Amazon account.

You can report any suspicious activity to Amazon's Report a Scam page.

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There have also been recent reports of customers receiving post cards that appear to be from Amazon promising a $10 gift card. The card says the recipient must scan a QR code which redirects to a website asking to for a review of a recent Amazon purchase.

To protect yourself from these scams, the Better Business Bureau offers these tips:

• Amazon will never call asking you to disclose personal information or offering refunds you aren’t expecting.
• Avoid clicking on links in emails or texts. If you receive an email from Amazon, ensure the email address is legitimate. Attachments from Amazon will say “Attachment(s) protected by Amazon.”
• Double-check links before clicking on them. Amazon will never send you a link to an IP address (a string of numbers). Look for added letters or numbers and misspelled words in the web address.
• Log in to your Amazon account and review it before acting. If you receive a message claiming you have an order on the way that you didn’t order or you need to update your payment information, review Your Orders on your Amazon account before acting on these claims. These messages are oftentimes scammers trying to get you to click the links so they can steal your information.
• Trust your gut. If you receive communication with links that seem suspicious, don’t open them.
• Enable two-step verification on your Amazon account. This adds another level of safety to your account and makes it hard for scammers to hack you.
• Be wary of communication with grammatical errors or typos.
• Avoid deals that seem too good to be true. Scammers may use counterfeit products to deceive consumers into purchasing lower-quality replicas of their favorite products.
• Thoroughly look at reviews. Scammers can take over actual reviews of products and replace some of the information to match their products. When looking at reviews ensure the caption and photos match and the review makes sense.
• Be wary of third-party sellers. Third-party sellers may use phishing, review hijacking and bait and switch tactics to steal money or information. Always double-check if your product is being sold directly from Amazon or a third-party seller.
• Be wary of social media communication about Amazon. If you receive messages on social media claiming you won a prize from Amazon or someone needs you to buy them a gift card, it’s probably a scam. Scammers lure you to buy Amazon gift cards and then use the funds before you know what happened.
• Look out for brushing scams, which happen when scammers send you items you didn’t purchase. These scammers send you low-cost items and then use your name to write reviews for their products and increase their ratings.