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Warning to Amazon customers of scam text messages trying to steal personal and bank details

Amazon. Picture: NORTHERN ECHO
Amazon. Picture: NORTHERN ECHO

People who have accounts with Amazon are being warned about a new text message scam.

Customers have reported receiving texts, supposedly from Amazon, asking them to follow a link to secure their accounts after an attempted log in. However once they log in, the scammers are able to steal their personal information.

Consumer rights experts Which? have urged people to be aware.

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An Amazon spokesperson told Which?: "These messages were not sent by Amazon.

"Scammers attempting to impersonate Amazon put our customers and our brand at risk. Although these scams take place outside our store, we will continue to invest in protecting customers and educating the public on scam avoidance.

"We encourage customers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe. Please visit our help pages to find additional information on how to identify scams and report them."

According to the consumer rights experts, one of the texts reads: “Amazon: We detected a login into your account from a new device on 27/09/2022 at 15:10:08 UTC. If this wasn’t you, you can terminate that session via: [https://checkup-amazon.com]."

Another text may say: "From Amazon - A new login has been attempted from IP address: 82.966.81.27 (Ipswich).If this was NOT you, secure your account immediately. [amazon-logins.com]."

When experts entered their details, they were taken to another "convincing" fraudulent webpage which asked for a name, date of birth, mobile number, home address and email address. Which? has reported the fake URLs to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

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