{"id":13976,"date":"2025-07-21T22:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T22:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/13976\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T22:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T22:29:11","slug":"amazon-issues-critical-warning-to-200-million-customers-over-devious-scam-targeting-prime-accounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/13976\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon issues critical warning to 200 million customers over devious scam targeting Prime accounts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amazon says scammers are tricking Prime users into giving up their passwords and payment details<\/a> pretending to be Amazon itself, and they are getting better at it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company alerted users after a sharp increase in fake emails and phone calls targeting its 200 million customers in July, just after their Prime Day sales event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amazon sent an email warning customers that scammers are posing as the company and claiming their Prime membership will be renewed at a higher price unless they cancel it immediately.<\/p>\n

Once users click on the ‘cancel’ link in the email, it will lead them to a fake Amazon login page, where users hand over their passwords without realizing it.<\/p>\n

With these stolen credentials, scammers can access the real accounts and make purchases using any credit cards saved in the victim’s information.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amazon also said that the fraudsters were calling people and claimed someone had just ordered an iPhone<\/a> on their account, then asking for login credentials to ‘fix the error.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Amazon’s blog, one user said: ‘I got a random call from someone who claimed I bought something on Amazon that I had not, and they wanted my account information to verify this was an error.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amazon said it has already taken down more than 55,000 phishing websites and 12,000<\/a> scam phone numbers this year alone, but warns that criminals are constantly changing tactics.<\/p>\n

\"Amazon <\/p>\n

Amazon alerted their Prime users after a sharp increase in fake emails and phone calls targeting the 200 million people with this subscription service<\/p>\n

These scams intensified ahead of Amazon’s Prime Day sales event from July 8 to July 11, and have continued since then, targeting membership renewals with the latest scam.<\/p>\n

Experts warned that scammers are pulling information from the dark web<\/a>, including Prime users’ real names or addresses, to make the fake emails look legitimate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Malwarebytes, a cybersecurity company, reported that the fake domains used in the attacks include the site amazon.digital, which looks almost identical to the real Amazon login page.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amazon said no one is immune to these scams and there is no shame in being targeted, but knowing what to look for can make all the difference.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘We have recently noticed an increase in customers reporting fake emails about Amazon Prime membership subscriptions,’ the company wrote in an urgent email warning to customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the message<\/a>, Amazon shared six tips to help users protect themselves and outlined steps to take if they think they have been targeted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Specifically, the email urged customers not to click any links, warning that scammers use these fake sites to steal login details and banking information.<\/p>\n

For hackers, these phony pages allow them to monitor everything the victim types in and save it, without the Prime user ever knowing they weren’t typing on a legitimate Amazon website.<\/p>\n

\"Scammers <\/p>\n

Scammers have reportedly used stolen credentials to access real accounts and make purchases with saved credit cards<\/p>\n

Amazon also advised customers to check their Prime membership under the ‘Prime’ menu by opening the Amazon app or by visiting the website directly.<\/p>\n

The new email warning recommended monitoring bank statements for questionable charges if any suspicious links were clicked, and to report strange messages to amazon.com\/reportascam.<\/p>\n

To protect against scams, Amazon said always access its site through the official app or by visiting amazon.com on a web browser.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They reminded customers to verify if a message is real by checking the Message Center under ‘Your Account,’ where legitimate Amazon messages appear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amazon also recommended enabling two-step verification, a setting that adds an extra layer of protection when logging in to your account, typically by sending an access code to the legitimate user’s phone or email.<\/p>\n

You can turn it on by going to the Login & Security settings in your Amazon account, or by visiting amazon.com\/2SV on a web browser.<\/p>\n

The company said it will never ask for payments over the phone, by email, or on third-party sites. Scammers often create a false sense of urgency to rush victims, claiming accounts are in danger or money is owed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another warning sign is being asked to buy a gift card in order to make a payment. Amazon said it will never ask for gift card payments, and any demand for them is a scam.<\/p>\n

\"Malwarebytes, <\/p>\n

Malwarebytes, a cybersecurity company, reported that some fake domains used in the attacks includes a site like amazon.digital, which looks almost identical to the real Amazon login page<\/p>\n

They cautioned against calling numbers sent in texts, emails, or found through online searches, and said it never asks customers to download software to connect with support.<\/p>\n

The company has been working with the Better Business Bureau to help people check for scams by offering a Scam Tracker tool. This tool lets users search and report scam messages by email, phone number, or website link.<\/p>\n

Amazon also says it has thousands of people working full time around the world to protect its platform. That includes fraud investigators, software engineers, and machine learning scientists.<\/p>\n

The company encouraged shoppers to stick to the official Amazon app or website when looking for deals, buying items, or checking order history.<\/p>\n

Amazon found an 80 percent spike during Prime Day 2024 in a specific impersonation scam in the US, where fraudsters pretended there was a problem with a customer’s account to trick them into sharing personal information.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In November, the company found<\/a>\u00a0that 94 percent of global impersonation scams came through email, text messages, or phone calls.\u00a0Two-thirds of those scams focused on fake account issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amazon says scammers are tricking Prime users into giving up their passwords and payment details pretending to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2151,84,97,59,641,124,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-13976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-amazon","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-gb","12":"tag-iphone","13":"tag-sciencetech","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}