The latest scam hitting email inboxes involves rather convincing emails appearing to be from Amazon Prime Video about subscription renewals.
AppleInsider reports one of its employees have received fraudulent Amazon billing notices, referencing an alleged Prime Video renewal. The email and attached invoice use the usual verbiage designed to worry recipients and trick them into calling the scammer’s “renewal hotline.”
The messages appear to be from Amazon’s billing system and include a PDF that looks like an official receipt. The document is complete with a fake order ID, a fabricated invoice number, and a renewal charge that had not been authorized by the recipient.
The scammers include an out-of-state phone number and urges recipients to call within a short window if they did not approve the payment.
Several versions of the scam pretend to come from Signaturely, a legitimate electronic signature service. The emails ask users to “Review & Sign” a subscription agreement and then present a fake Prime Video receipt inside the attached PDF.
The document uses an email address that does not belong to the recipient and a domain that is unrelated to Amazon.
While the layout resembles a genuine Amazon receipt, although the illusion is quickly broken with a closer look. For one thing, the billing notices come from random domains, which is something Amazon never does. It also doesn’t ask customers to call a phone number to resolve an issue, nor does it ask users to confirm activity via an external signature service like Signaturely.
Unfortunately, scammers are using the trust customers place in large companies like Amazon and other firms. Activity like this increases during the holiday season, as the bad actors hope you’ll just accept scam emails as a part of genuine order and delivery updates. During the hectic holiday shopping season, they hope the false sense of urgency will cause victims to panic and not think things through.
Amazon warns customers to ignore any emails or text messages demanding any type of urgent action or that requests verification of account information via a phone number listed in the email. Only contact the company via the support phone numbers listed only on the Amazon website or in the Amazon app.
The company also reminds customers that genuine order confirmations will only appear in the Your Orders page.
For more advice and information about current scams, visit the Amazon security help page.
When receiving an email like the scam emails discussed above, always look for signs of bad actor activity, including unexpected emails with invoices attached, expensive subscription renewal notices, or wording trying to create a false sense of urgency to spur you to call a fake support number.
Scam messages will also come from unfamiliar domains, many of which are slightly misspelled or use special characters that at first glance make them appear to be genuine. Never click any links in the email or open any attachments. Never call any of the phone numbers listed in the email. Only contact Amazon or any other company through their legitimate website, or a known good phone number.
Users are advised to report any suspicious emails to Amazon at: stop-spoofing@amazon.com, and are urged to enable two-factor authentication to add another layer of security for their account.