Amazon is the name criminals borrow more than any other, because almost everyone has an order in transit at any given moment. That is why a text about a “recalled” air fryer or a call about a $900 charge you never made can feel believable before you have time to think. This guide covers the scams in your search history, one situation at a time: the ones that want your password, the ones that want remote access to your computer, and the ones that simply fill your porch with boxes.
Most Amazon scam advice reads like a list of rules. Rules are hard to use when the message in front of you says a charge is about to go through or a product in your kitchen is a fire risk. So we built this guide around the moments that actually send people to a search box: a refund text, a recall alert, a stranger on the phone, a package you did not order, a Prime email with a button that says cancel.
Everything here was checked against Amazon’s own scam-help pages, the FTC, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall database, and AARP’s fraud team, whose most recent warning on fake recall notices was published in September. Where a number is old, we say so.
Key Answers If You Only Have a Minute
Almost certainly not, if it came by text with a link. Real recalls name the exact product and model, and Amazon directs customers to the “Your Recalls and Product Safety Alerts” section of their account. Check there, or at cpsc.gov/recalls, never through the link.
No. Amazon’s own guidance says it will not offer a refund you do not expect. A surprise refund, a “wrong amount” refund or a refund that needs you to log in through a link is the opening move of a scam.
No. Amazon states it will not ask you to download software, grant remote access to your device, or pay for customer service. Remote access is how most refund scams turn a phone call into an emptied bank account.
No. This is called brushing. By law you may keep unsolicited merchandise and owe nothing for it. Do report the packages to Amazon, and take it as a prompt to check your account and change your password.
Amazon itself warned Prime members about exactly this email. The button leads to a fake login page built to steal your credentials. Check your membership status in the app or at amazon.com instead.
Never act from the message. Open the Amazon app or type amazon.com yourself, then look in the Message Center and Your Orders. If you cannot find the order, the recall or the problem there, the message was not from Amazon.
Yes. Amazon offers a scam-checking tool in Alexa for Shopping, accepts forwarded messages at [email protected], and runs a report form. The Better Business Bureau also keeps a searchable Scam Tracker of reported emails, links and phone numbers.
Stop contact. If anyone had remote access, disconnect from the internet and call your bank right away. Change your Amazon and email passwords from a clean device, turn on two-step verification, and report it to Amazon, the FTC and, if money moved, the FBI.
Real Amazon Contact vs. Fake, Channel by Channel
A scammer can copy a logo in seconds. What they cannot copy is the way Amazon actually operates. Memorize the rules in the middle column and you can test any message against them.
| Channel | What real Amazon does | What gives a fake away | Your move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authentic emails show up in your Message Center, and customers on major mail services see Amazon’s smile logo beside real ones | Surprise order confirmations, “cancel subscription” buttons, attachments, unexpected refunds | Open the app, check Message Center and Your Orders. Report at [email protected]. | |
| Text message | Does not ask for sensitive information outside its website or app | A link about a recall, a missed delivery, a payment problem or a refund | Do not tap. Tap “Report Spam” in the thread, then delete. |
| Phone call | Some departments call customers, but Amazon will not ask for payment, passwords or one-time codes by phone | Caller says there is a large charge, asks you to confirm a code, install an app or buy gift cards | Hang up. Contact Amazon through the app, not a number from the call. |
| Website | Real help pages sit on amazon.com, such as amazon.com/support | Look-alike addresses, ads for “Amazon support,” pages that ask for card numbers to “verify” | Type the address yourself. Do not search for a support number. |
| Recall notice | Names the product and model, and appears in Your Recalls and Product Safety Alerts | Vague “a product from your recent order,” urgency, a link to claim a refund | Check your account and cpsc.gov/recalls. |
| Job offers | Genuine Amazon jobs do not require upfront payment or sensitive personal information to apply | A chat-app interview, a fee for equipment, a request for your bank details | Apply only through Amazon’s own jobs site. |
| Gift cards | Never asks you to buy one; no legitimate transaction requires gift cards | “Verification cards,” “security deposit” cards, “refund repayment” cards | Stop at once. This is a scam every time. |
In our review of Amazon’s own scam-help pages, one habit shows up in nearly every entry: go to Amazon, do not come from the message. Amazon tells customers to confirm a purchase, account issue, job offer or recall by opening the app or website directly, and to skip any phone number that arrived by text, email or an online search. We found that single rule covers every scenario below. It works because a criminal controls the message, but not your app.
Open the Amazon app. Tap your account and look at Your Orders: if the order in the message is not there, the message is not from Amazon. Then open the Message Center: real communications from Amazon are logged there. Finally, if the message mentions a product recall, open Your Recalls and Product Safety Alerts. Three taps replace hours of worry.
The most detailed Amazon-specific analysis the Federal Trade Commission has published covered reports from July 2020 through June 2021. In it, about one in three people who reported a business impersonator said the scammer claimed to be Amazon, and monthly reports of Amazon impersonators climbed from 1,794 to 9,796 during that period, more than five times. That data is dated, but the pattern has held: Amazon is still the name AARP’s fraud team and security firms report most often.
The Amazon Scams in Your Search History, Explained
These are the scripts people are searching for. Each one has the same skeleton: a trusted name, a problem or a prize, pressure to move fast, and a request that only a criminal would make.
Someone calls or texts about a charge you did not make, an order that “cannot be delivered,” or a refund that is “waiting” for you. To handle it, they want you to call a number, then to install a remote-access program so they can “process the refund” on your screen. Once they can see and control your computer or phone, they can watch you open your bank website and then move money. Amazon says plainly that it will not offer a refund you do not expect, will not ask you to install software, and will not ask you to grant remote access.
The caller claims that, while fixing your “problem,” they refunded far more than they meant to, say $3,000 instead of $300, and urge you to return the difference by gift card, wire or cash. Money that looks like a deposit in your account, or a balance on your Amazon account, can be an illusion or can vanish later. The person is not your accidental benefactor. A reported refund-scam pattern is that deposits appear and then disappear, leaving the victim’s own money gone. If you cannot find a real refund in Your Orders, there was no refund.
A text arrives from a “Product Safety Team.” It says an item from your recent order failed a safety review, may be a fire risk, and must be returned for a refund. It includes a link. AARP described this wave in September: the message usually says “a product from your recent order” because the criminals have no idea what you actually bought. They are betting you recently ordered something that could plausibly catch fire. Consumer Reports and local consumer groups reported the same text earlier this year, and a customer in one report confirmed through Amazon’s own app that no recall existed.
The recall specialist AARP interviewed lists four tells: vague wording, urgency, an unusual channel (text messages are rare for real recalls), and requests for personal information or payment. A real recall never needs your login, your Social Security number, your bank details or a fee.
An email or text thanks you for an expensive purchase, such as a laptop or a phone, and says to call or click if you did not make it. Of course you did not, so you call. The number belongs to the scammer. Amazon lists unexpected order confirmations that refer to an unauthorized purchase, and urgent requests to confirm or cancel it, as a trend. The test takes ten seconds: if the order is not in Your Orders, there is no order.
Amazon sent a warning to its Prime members about emails claiming a membership is about to renew at an unexpected price, with a “cancel subscription” button. The button opens a fake Amazon login page. Amazon’s advice: verify your Prime membership in the app or at amazon.com, reach Amazon directly rather than through links, and use the Message Center to see what is genuine. Related tricks include messages about a payment problem that “pauses” your membership.
Amazon names account suspension and deletion threats as a recurring scam type: a message says your account will be closed unless you take an action, usually clicking through to “verify.” Amazon says that if you have questions about account status, you visit the website or app and view your account details. Of all Amazon-impersonation scams reported to Amazon by customers in 2025, 28% were attempts to gain access to customer accounts, often by asking for a one-time password or an installed program to “resolve” a made-up problem.
Amazon’s October sale, Prime Big Deal Days, ran October 6 and 7, and the summer Prime Day moved to June this year. Around these events, Amazon has warned that impersonation scams ramp up: emails, texts and calls about account problems, missed deliveries or order issues, with urgent links. Amazon has said it saw a sharp spike during an earlier Prime Day. The follow-up is just as important as the sale itself, because deliveries and returns generate “order problem” messages for weeks, and the holiday shopping rush is next. AARP’s fraud team expects recall-scam reports to climb again around the holidays.
Scammers also build fake Amazon support pages and buy search ads that put a phone number at the top of your results. Amazon’s guidance is to go directly to its help section for anything about devices or services, and to avoid numbers “found in online search results.” Tech and customer-support scams were the second-largest category of reported losses for Americans 60 and older in the FBI’s latest annual report, at about $1.04 billion, which is why we cover them even though the story starts with a search, not a text.
Recruitment scams offer easy remote work through unofficial channels, then ask for personal information or a payment for equipment, training or “background checks.” Amazon states that legitimate job opportunities never require upfront payment or sensitive personal information to apply. If a “recruiter” contacts you on a messaging app and asks you to buy something, walk away.
Amazon notes that scammers sometimes call these “verification cards.” The explanation changes (a security check, a deposit, a way to return an overpayment) but the demand is the same: buy gift cards and read out the numbers. Amazon will never ask you to buy a gift card, and no legitimate transaction requires paying with one. Gift card codes are typically spent within minutes, so losses are rarely recovered.
The scam types, side by side
| Scam | What it wants | How you can confirm it in under a minute | If you responded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refund scam | Remote access, then your bank login | No refund in Your Orders means no refund | Disconnect, remove software, call your bank |
| Overpaid-refund variation | Gift cards, wires or cash “to return the extra” | Check your actual bank balance and Your Orders | Stop payment; report to your bank and the FTC |
| Recall text | Your login or card details through a fake page | Your Recalls and Product Safety Alerts; cpsc.gov/recalls | Change password; watch card activity |
| Fake order confirmation | A phone call to the scammer’s number | Look for the order in Your Orders | Hang up; verify via the app |
| Prime price-hike email | Your Amazon credentials through a fake login | Check Prime status in your account | Change password; enable two-step verification |
| Account suspension notice | A one-time code, login or installed program | View account details in the app or at amazon.com | Change password; secure your email |
| Tech support fake site | A call to a fake help line, then remote access | Use Amazon’s help section directly | Disconnect; call your bank |
| Job offer | Fees and personal information | Look the job up on Amazon’s own jobs site | Report to the FTC; freeze credit if you shared data |
| Brushing packages | Your name and address for fake reviews | Check Your Orders; you owe nothing for unordered goods | Keep them, report them, change your password |
Brushing: When the Scam Is a Box on Your Porch
A package you did not order looks like good luck. Consumer agencies say it is better understood as a sign that someone is using your name and address.
Here is the scam in one sentence. A seller needs positive reviews that look real, so they order their own product in a stranger’s name, ship it to that stranger’s address, and let the delivery count as a “verified” purchase. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service describes brushing as illegal and notes that the packages may have no return address, or one belonging to a retailer. When we compared the Postal Inspection Service’s guidance with reports in the press, one detail stood out: in a case reported this year, a Scottsdale couple received dozens of packages that all bore someone else’s name, and the names turned out to be fake. That suggests the address, not the name, was what mattered.
By law, you may keep unsolicited merchandise and have no obligation to pay for it. The FTC says recipients can keep an unordered package, throw it out or donate it. If a package is unopened and has a return address, you can mark it “Return to Sender” and the Postal Service will return it at no charge. If unsolicited merchandise arrives from Amazon, eBay or another marketplace seller, go to that company’s website and file a fraud report. If something about a package alarms you, the Postal Inspection Service’s suspicious-mail instructions apply, and Postal Inspectors can be reached at 877-876-2455.
It does not mean you owe anything, and it does not automatically mean your Amazon account was hacked. The sender may have simply found your address. But consumer officials describe brushing as a sign your personal information has been exposed somewhere, so take it seriously as a prompt. In the Arizona case, the couple reported every package to Amazon and still saw deliveries continue for a while, which is a reminder that reporting is necessary but not instant. The practical steps are to check Your Orders for anything you did not place, change your Amazon password if you reuse it elsewhere, and review your card statements.
Postal inspectors point out that a brushing review can mislead other shoppers into buying a worthless product. Marketplaces generally prohibit sellers from sending unsolicited packages, and Amazon says it investigates reports and acts against bad actors. When you report a brushing package, you are also helping remove a fake review from the product page, which protects the next person who reads it.
Pick the Situation That Sounds Like Yours
The right move depends on how far things went. Find the closest match and follow the steps in order.
This is the emergency. Do these in order. First, disconnect the device from the internet: turn off Wi-Fi or unplug the network cable, so the person loses access. Second, call your bank or card issuer from a different phone and tell them a stranger had remote access while you were logged in; ask them to freeze online access, reverse anything pending and issue new account numbers. Third, uninstall the remote-access program the caller had you install, and run a security scan, or ask a trusted person to check the device. Fourth, from a different, clean device, change the password on your email, then your bank, then Amazon, and turn on two-step verification wherever it is offered.
Then report. Tell Amazon, file at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and report to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov if any money moved. The faster your bank hears about it, the better the chance a transfer can be stopped.
Do not tap. Open the Amazon app and look at Your Orders and your Recalls and Product Safety Alerts. If a real recall applies to something you bought, it will appear there with the product name, the model and what to do. You can also search the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall list at cpsc.gov/recalls. If the text is vague, creates urgency, or only offers a link, it is a scam. Tap “Report Spam” in the message thread, forward it to your carrier’s spam line at 7726, and report it to Amazon at [email protected].
One caution that matters: if the text says a product is a fire hazard and you are worried, it is reasonable to stop using the item while you check. AARP’s account of one victim notes that unplugging the air fryer first was the right instinct. Then check through official channels before doing anything else.
Do not press a number, do not “confirm” anything and do not give a code. Hang up. Open the Amazon app, look at Your Orders and the Message Center, and you will almost certainly find no such order. The FTC has described this exact call for years: a voicemail or live caller says there is suspicious activity or an unauthorized purchase, and when you call back, a fake representative steers you toward remote access to “fix” it. Amazon’s guidance is to contact it through the app or website, not a number from the call.
Stop. Whatever you see in a bank balance or an Amazon account while someone else is guiding your screen cannot be trusted. Do not send gift cards, wire money or hand over cash. Check your real balance by logging in yourself from a different device, and check Your Orders for a refund. If you have already sent anything, call your bank immediately and report it to the FTC. If it was gift cards, contact the card issuer with the numbers right away.
Do not pay for them, and do not feel obliged to send them back. Keep, donate or discard. File a report through the platform that shipped them, and note the seller, the order details and dates, since patterns help investigators. Check your account for any order you did not place, change your password if you reuse it, and look through your card activity. If packages keep arriving or a delivery worries you, call Postal Inspectors at 877-876-2455. Consider a fraud alert or credit freeze if you suspect your personal details have been misused.
Change your Amazon password right away, using the Amazon app or by typing amazon.com yourself, not the link in the message. Do the same for any other account that shares the password. Turn on two-step verification. Then open Your Account and review your orders, your saved addresses and your payment methods for anything unfamiliar. Look at your Message Center for activity you do not recognize. Contact your card issuer if you typed in card details, and ask for a new card number.
Amazon warned Prime members about price-hike emails with a cancel button that leads to a fake login. Related messages say a payment failed or that you owe an extra fee. Open the app and check your membership and your payment methods. If everything looks normal, the email was a trap. Delete it, and do not use the button.
After a big sale, delivery notices, payment confirmations and return updates are all genuine, which is exactly what scammers count on. Their messages blend in. Treat any text with a link as unverified. Track packages in the Amazon app, not through a link. During peak shopping periods, assume that a message about a “delivery problem” is fake until Your Orders shows a delay. Amazon notes that scammers aim messages at customers around major events.
If a message says you must pay a fee to release a package, confirm an address through a link or give a code, it is not how Amazon works: Amazon says it will not ask for payment by phone or email. Track the order in the app. If a driver genuinely needs to reach you, the app and the delivery notes will reflect it.
Stop. Amazon says genuine job opportunities never require upfront payment or sensitive personal information to apply. Look up the role on Amazon’s official careers site, and apply there. If you already gave your Social Security number or bank details, treat it as an identity-theft event: place a fraud alert or credit freeze, and report at IdentityTheft.gov.
It is a scam, every time. Amazon will never ask you to buy a gift card. If you have already bought and read out the numbers, call the gift card issuer immediately with the card numbers and the store receipt, then report to the FTC and your local police. Gift-card losses are rarely recovered, but speed is the only chance.
Older adults reported large losses to tech-support scams in the FBI’s latest report, and the calls aimed at them tend to apply the most pressure. Start with empathy, not blame. Ask what was said, what was installed and whether money moved, and walk through the steps above together. The free AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360 offers trained specialists, and the Department of Justice’s National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-372-8311 helps when the victim is 60 or older.
Lock Down Your Amazon Account Before You Need To
Because 28% of Amazon-impersonation reports to Amazon were attempts to take over accounts, the account itself is the prize. Make it a harder one to win.
Amazon recommends two-step verification and unique passwords. With it on, a stolen password alone is not enough, and a scammer who asks you for the one-time code is, by definition, running a scam. Amazon says it will never ask you for your password or an account sign-in code over the phone. Share that rule with your family, since it is the single most common lever criminals pull.
Open Your Account and look at four things: Your Orders for anything you did not place, your saved addresses for any you do not recognize, your payment methods for cards you did not add, and your Message Center for anything odd. Add a habit: after any suspicious contact, do this check. Each of those screens sits one or two taps from Your Account, so the whole check should take only a few minutes, and it answers the question “was I actually affected?” that causes the most worry.
Amazon says real emails show up in your Message Center, and customers using Gmail, Yahoo and similar providers see Amazon’s smile logo beside authentic emails. Amazon also offers a scam-checking feature in Alexa for Shopping, where you describe the message and it tells you whether it came from Amazon, and accepts forwarded suspicious messages at [email protected]. Use them. Amazon says 360,000 customers contact it every year to ask exactly this, and nobody there thinks it is a silly question.
Genuine recalls come with names, model numbers and instructions, and they reach you through the retailer’s recall page, by email or by mail if you registered the product. Fill in the registration card or register online, so you have a real recall channel to compare against. Bookmark cpsc.gov/recalls, and keep Your Recalls and Product Safety Alerts in mind as the first place to look.
Turn on transaction alerts with your card issuer, and prefer paying with a credit card, where fraud disputes are generally easier than with a debit card tied to your checking account. If you have ever typed card details into a link, replace the card. Consider a credit freeze if you shared sensitive personal data such as a Social Security number.
Questions Nobody Asks Until After It Happens
They usually do not. AARP’s recall expert points out that the criminals behind fake recall texts do not know what you bought, which is why the messages say “a product from your recent order.” They are playing the odds that someone receiving the text has recently ordered something from Amazon, which, with hundreds of millions of customers, is a safe bet.
No. Amazon specifically warns against calling numbers sent by text or email, or found through online search. The call is the trap. Contact Amazon through its app or website instead.
Yes. Amazon says it can now take down reported phishing websites in a matter of hours, and it initiated takedowns of more than 70,000 phishing sites and 14,000 impersonation phone numbers in 2025. When we divided those annual totals ourselves, that works out to about 190 sites and 38 phone numbers every day. Your report feeds that pipeline, and Amazon says reports help it identify bad actors and stop scams before they spread.
No. Amazon’s own safety guidance says no one is immune to scams and no one should feel embarrassed when targeted. These messages are designed by people who do this full time, and they test thousands of variations. Reporting quickly is the only thing that matters now.
You can still be targeted, and you can still report. Amazon accepts reports of impersonation from non-customers at [email protected]. If you do not have an account, a message about an Amazon order is almost certainly fake.
Where to Report and Who Can Help
Save this list today. Reporting takes a few minutes and creates the record that banks, investigators and Amazon itself rely on.
| Who | Use it for | How to reach them | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Reporting a suspicious message, call or site | [email protected] · report form in the app or website | Non-customers can email too |
| Amazon verification | Asking “is this message from Amazon?” | [email protected] · Alexa for Shopping checker | Describe when and how you received it |
| Federal Trade Commission | Reporting any scam; identity-theft recovery plans | ReportFraud.ftc.gov · IdentityTheft.gov | Helps agencies spot trends |
| FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center | Online fraud, especially when money moved | ic3.gov | Report quickly; speed affects recovery |
| Postal Inspection Service | Suspicious or dangerous mail, brushing packages | 877-876-2455 | Also see its suspicious-mail instructions |
| Consumer Product Safety Commission | Checking whether a recall is real | cpsc.gov/recalls | Real recalls name the product and model |
| Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker | Searching reported scams by email, link or phone number | bbb.org/scamtracker | Partnered with Amazon in the U.S. |
| AARP Fraud Watch Network | Talking to a trained specialist about a scam | 877-908-3360 | Free; for any age |
| Your bank or card issuer | Stopping a payment, replacing a card | Number on your card or statement | Call first, within minutes if you can |
Statistics are drawn from Amazon’s published scam-safety guidance, FTC consumer-protection analyses, the FBI’s annual internet crime report, and AARP reporting, and may have changed since we reviewed them. The FTC’s channel breakdown for Amazon impersonators covers July 2020 to June 2021 and is the most recent Amazon-specific breakdown we found; it is presented as historical. Per-day figures and the “other” share in Figure 2 are our own calculations from published numbers. Amazon’s practices and tools can change, so confirm current steps in the Amazon app or on its official help pages.
This page is independent educational information, not legal, financial or law-enforcement advice, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon, the FTC, the FBI, the Postal Inspection Service, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, AARP or the Better Business Bureau. If you believe a crime is in progress, call 911 or your local police.
Key sources: Amazon scam-safety and trustworthy-shopping help pages · FTC Consumer Sentinel and Data Spotlights · FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center annual report · U.S. Postal Inspection Service · Consumer Product Safety Commission · AARP Fraud Watch Network · Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker