Am I getting hacked? A guide to Amazon seller scam text and emails (and other phishing scams)
“Your account was suspended due to unusual activity.”
“Your account has been locked.”
“You have 24 hours to respond or your account will be permanently terminated.”
Have you received an email or text like this and been unsure how to proceed? Seller account suspension scam messages are increasingly prevalent, and the odds are the message is a phishing attempt. Merriam Webster dictionary defines phishing as, “the practice of tricking Internet users (as through the use of deceptive email messages or websites) into revealing personal or confidential information which can then be used illicitly.”
Ways to know if a message is a phishing attempt or seller scam:
- Amazon will never ask for your user ID or password via an email. If you receive an email asking for this kind of information, you can feel certain it’s a phishing attempt.
- Look for typos or grammatical errors. While not foolproof, these kind of errors make it likely the message is a scam.
- Check the sender’s email address by hovering over it. If it appears “complicated”—like a series of letters and numbers, or it comes from a non-Amazon email address (for example, a hotmail.com address)—then it’s likely a scam or phishing attempt.
What should you do if you suspect an email or text is a scam?
- First and foremost—do not click any links.
- Never give out any account or financial information in an email or on a website you reached after clicking a link in an email.
- Report the message to your ISP and also Report Suspicious Activity to Amazon.
- Consider updating your account so you’re not using the same email address as your sign in as you do for your customer contacts. For example, if you use myname@myisp.com as your sign in account, consider using an e-mail address such as info@myisp.com for your notification or contact e-mail address.
For additional information:
- Watch this Stay Safe from Phishing Seller University video.
- Read this How can I protect myself against fake emails? Seller Central help file.
- Review About Identifying Whether an E-mail is from Amazon for information about phishing.
Am I getting hacked? A guide to Amazon seller scam text and emails (and other phishing scams)
“Your account was suspended due to unusual activity.”
“Your account has been locked.”
“You have 24 hours to respond or your account will be permanently terminated.”
Have you received an email or text like this and been unsure how to proceed? Seller account suspension scam messages are increasingly prevalent, and the odds are the message is a phishing attempt. Merriam Webster dictionary defines phishing as, “the practice of tricking Internet users (as through the use of deceptive email messages or websites) into revealing personal or confidential information which can then be used illicitly.”
Ways to know if a message is a phishing attempt or seller scam:
- Amazon will never ask for your user ID or password via an email. If you receive an email asking for this kind of information, you can feel certain it’s a phishing attempt.
- Look for typos or grammatical errors. While not foolproof, these kind of errors make it likely the message is a scam.
- Check the sender’s email address by hovering over it. If it appears “complicated”—like a series of letters and numbers, or it comes from a non-Amazon email address (for example, a hotmail.com address)—then it’s likely a scam or phishing attempt.
What should you do if you suspect an email or text is a scam?
- First and foremost—do not click any links.
- Never give out any account or financial information in an email or on a website you reached after clicking a link in an email.
- Report the message to your ISP and also Report Suspicious Activity to Amazon.
- Consider updating your account so you’re not using the same email address as your sign in as you do for your customer contacts. For example, if you use myname@myisp.com as your sign in account, consider using an e-mail address such as info@myisp.com for your notification or contact e-mail address.
For additional information:
- Watch this Stay Safe from Phishing Seller University video.
- Read this How can I protect myself against fake emails? Seller Central help file.
- Review About Identifying Whether an E-mail is from Amazon for information about phishing.
