That Text From Amazon Might Be a Scam

Scammers are very good at what they do, and they keep getting better. These bad actors know how to scare people into handing over their data, or even the keys to their devices, under the guise of being helpful. They’ll impersonate customer support for the largest companies, and make you feel like they’ll take care of any issue, all before stealing your account credentials and compromising your finances.

Take the following for example: You receive a text in a group of numbers you don’t recognize. The text begins, “Amazon Product Safety Recall,” and explains that “Amazon” is contacting you as one item in your recent order has been added to “the official safety recall list.” The text even includes the order number, which may look official at first glance.

That’s on purpose. The point is to look official, and cause alarm. Despite the fact the text doesn’t actually include any specifics about what you ordered, you might think about what you recently bought from Amazon, and whether that product might be recalled. If it’s something edible, or something potentially dangerous, like something electrical, you might be concerned keeping or using the product could be risky.

As such, the text primes you for the next part: a “convenient” link to check the status of your product, and to speak with an Amazon representative to fix the problem. After all, you probably want to identify which item the recall affects, and figure out how to return it ASAP.

Of course, the entire situation is a lie. This isn’t a text from Amazon; your recent order doesn’t have a recalled item; and that link does not lead to an Amazon customer support page. Instead, that link likely leads somewhere that allows bad actors to scrape your information. Maybe they get a hold of your Amazon login, or your credit card information—and, from there, they can do whatever they want.