As the holiday season approaches, so do more scammers intent on fleecing money out of vulnerable or unprotected victims. Per ABC News, Amazon has already begun takedowns of more than 20,000 phishing websites and 10,000 phone numbers associated with business-impersonation scams.
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Amazon is warning consumers to be on alert for fake Amazon employees phishing for consumers’ credit card information, bank account information or Social Security number. Said scammers often use these pieces of information to commit identity theft. Calls or text messages from a scammer may claim a problem with your account, a failed credit card payment or a lost package — in reality, these are a form of confirmation scam.
Fraudulent text messages are popular among identity and financial thieves right now. A common example asks a potential Amazon customer to contact customer care regarding an order (an order they never placed, in actuality). Another fraudster may use a fake order number and an apparent emergency with the payment to get a person to contact “Amazon” (in reality, the scammer or their associates) for a refund.
As Amazon’s vice president of selling partner services, Dharmesh Mehta, told ABC’s “Good Morning America,” scammers often emphasize that urgency is required to repair whatever order problem…
