Amazon scam alert!

[MontanaMama]

I got up this morning to see 10 order verification notices from Amazon in my email box. None of the purchases were mine. I immediately contacted the sellers in an effort to cancel the purchases but in the middle of doing so, my inbox began filling with shipping notifications for these 10 items that I did not buy totaling $781.93.

First, I removed my credit card from my Amazon account and called American Express to notify them of the fraudulent charges. The Amex person told me the 10 separate charges were pending but could possibly still post and if they did, he would note on the account that all of the charges would be disputed. We cancelled my Amex card and ordered a new one. I will have to continue to monitor my Amex account to make sure the charges are properly disputed.

Next, I went back into Amazon and changed my password and signed up for a two step authentication for future sign in activity. I double checked that my shipping addresses (one for home and one for our business) had not been changed without my knowledge. I disabled the one-click purchasing option.

Finally, I requested a phone call from Amazon to notify them of the fraudulent charges. I spoke to Allyson who was working from home in Denver. She filed reports for all the the 10 orders noting them as fraudulent and verified my password changes etc. She stated she had seen this kind of activity of late and that it was very likely that the packages would never show up - hence the fraud. If the items did in fact ship, since all of the items were shipped out of China, they would be delivered USPS because they would have to go through Customs as they entered the country. She recommended that I refuse all packages and send them back unopened.

Didn't need this drama at all today but all in all it only took a couple hours to get it nipped in the bud...at least I hope I nipped it. Amazon was incredibly responsive, which I did not expect.

PS - Allyson from Amazon told me that while she was working from home along with her husband and their two kids, her neighbors were partying in the street and in each other's back yards for the last 10 days. She was horrified.

[rainin]

1. Do you know where the breach occurred?

Was your amazon account hacked directly? Or your email account? Do you know how they got control of your account?

This is truly terrible. No one deserves to have this added stress, especially at this time. Some people are truly evil.

[Mike 03]

3. I'd like to know where the breach was too.

This is scary.

[MontanaMama]

7. It appears it was at Amazon.

Although it isn't 100% certain yet. The Amazon rep told me this sort of thing is on the rise. Maybe Amazon was hacked and they haven't warned anyone yet? Knowing what I know now, I would recommend that anyone with an account change their password, use Amazon's two-step verification process AND disable the one-click purchasing option. It will take a few more clicks to complete a purchase but the extra effort on the front end could save you a couple hours or more of stress.

[Mike 03]

11. Thank you again for all of this information.

I'm so sorry you had to go through that, especially at a time like this.

[LAS14]

58. How does one click increase your vulnerability? nt

[MontanaMama]

59. I guess I don't know the technical answer to that.

The Amazon rep recommended I turn it off to reduce vulnerability so I took her word for it. Wish I had a better answer!

[MontanaMama]

4. The hack was at Amazon.

They don't know exactly what happened, or they didn't know when I talked with them. The Amazon rep could not see where the breach occurred. She said there had been an uptick of this kind of fraud and much of it out of China. It is unclear whether my card was charged and no items will be shipped or whether the items will be shipped and the pricing was inflated and they keep the profits...just not sure. All of the items were cosmetic storage pieces, like for makeup and nail polish and they were VERY expensive...ranging in price from $60 to $150...WAY more than you'd pay for something similar at a retail store.

[Mike 03]

2. Thank you for posting this.

That's disconcerting. I wonder how widespread this is. Good for you for handling it so calmly and setting out a process we can follow if it happens to other Amazon users.

Kick and bookmarked for future reference.

[Shanti Mama]

5. I had a strange Amazon phenomenon

Began receiving small packages almost daily. Junky stuff. Poorly made headphones, bright pink slippers with soles that wouldn't bend at all, many containers for wireless earbuds, even a red negligee. Never ordered any of it.

It seemed all to be made in China. My guess was that a team of "reviewers" in China was placing orders for the items but didn't want the shipments to be traced to them. They found my name and address somehow so I became the receiver and the team could write verified reviews.

Amazon could do NOTHING. After about two months it stopped. Probably shipping to someone else now. I gave all the stuff away to various people who came through the house and expressed interest, except a travel coffee mug that I kep for myself.

Crazy!

[LisaL]

8. At least that's a good type of scam for you.

You got a bunch of staff (albeit mostly useless) for free.

[Shanti Mama]

34. Quite a hassle to get rid of

I did have to take some items for donation. And open each and every package. Better than most scams, maybe not really a scam. Just a pain in the ass.

[coti]

9. If you're in a larger town they might have also been using your address to create fake

tracking numbers (which show up on Paypal, without more investigation, as addressed only by town). A Chinese scammer tried to use a fake tracking number like that with me recently. Not sure why they would have included anything at all in the packages to you, though- maybe so not to tip you off that your address was being used for something like that (with empty packages).

[Shanti Mama]

33. I don't understand.

I don't use PayPal.
Should I follow up with the police?

[MontanaMama]

13. That's nuts!!!

I hope the crap that got charged to me never actually shows up.

[Shanti Mama]

35. I hope so too.

I didn't get any charges. Someone else was buying and sending to me. Crazy!

[Eliot Rosewater]

6. So the criminals bought stuff to be shipped to your actual address, they did not add

a different address?

Wonder what purpose that serves unless THEY are also the people selling the shipped items.

Two step is really good, once you have that it should be impossible for them to hack.

[MontanaMama]

10. Time will tell if the fraudsters just charge my card and don't ship anything.

They may not...the items that they charged me for were cheesy but yet incredibly expensive. Much more expensive than what you'd pay for something similar in the stores. All of the items were for cosmetics storage...like $60 for a nail polish holder. Stupid stuff at ridiculous prices. Maybe they will ship this crap but it only cost them pennies and they intend to keep the change. Who knows.

[Eliot Rosewater]

24. Then they are the sellers too, makes perfect sense...whether it ships or not...

[yaesu]

32. I had this happen to me while I was visiting my parents, not Amazon, but I used their phone

to order something with my CC. After that I started to get packages shipped to me that I didn't order, cosmetics, kids stuff. Come to find out they had an old wireless phone connected to their phone outlet that broadcast everything on a frequency that could be heard on a police scanner.

[MontanaMama]

37. Holy hell!

That’s crazy. I didn’t know that was possible.

[yaesu]

52. Yep, even some police scanners sold by radio shack could be easily converted to pick up cell phone

traffic back when cell phones were analog which was up until 2010ish but most if not all scanners sold picked up wireless phones before they went to spread spectrum technology about the same time cell phones did.

[NBachers]

22. My guess- and it's only a guess- is they're selling cheap stuff at high prices, and then ordering it

with other peoples's cards. It doesn't matter if the merchandise is delivered or not; they get paid for their over-priced tacky stuff.

Anyway, that's my line of conjecture.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

12. Thanks for your alert. Are you saying the items were being shipped to you?

If someone hacked your account, you would think they would ship the items to themselves (or a partner-in-crime) AND charge you for them.

Another DUer posted yesterday of a bunch of "normal" Amazon orders that have not been shipped out of China although their credit card was charged, and it appeared the vendors just disappeared.

KY........

[MontanaMama]

14. I think the items may not ever actually ship.

The shipping notices show DHL as the carrier...which is common out of China BUT no tracking numbers that I can find - yet. The items charged to me were cheap cosmetic storage items at incredibly inflated prices. Even if they are shipped, there's no way that they cost what was charged. Maybe they just keep the difference between the actual cost of the item and the inflated price. $781.93 for 10 makeup/nail polish caddies. Ridiculous!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

16. OK, I get the scam now. Didn't know about highly inflated prices.

Perhaps by shipping the items, they could claim it was a normal order from Amazon and thereby possibly avoid an investigation.

Crooks will do anything to make a buck.......

[MontanaMama]

20. Just went into my account...

clicked on "track my package" and the tracking # looks phony. DHL uses really long tracking #'s and this one is relatively short. When I click on the number, it says "this item has shipped". Looks like it shipped from China and will arrive at my home on Friday. Yeah...not likely. Especially if it has to go through Customs.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

21. Have you tried tracking through Packagetrackr or China Post?

Go to: https://www.packagetrackr.com/track/postal

or......

Go to: https://track-chinapost.com/

I think there's a different tracking number (Chinese origin) up to our customs, then the package is transfered to a domestic carrier such as DHL or USPS, where it's assigned a new domestic tracking number (which is rarely available).

Risky business.......

[volstork]

15. Can you advise how to turn off 1-click?

I have tried and cannot figure out how to do it (even following Amazon instructions).

Thanks in advance!

[MontanaMama]

17. That was the one thing I needed the Amazon rep to help me do.

I didn't know how important it was until she alerted me to it. However, I just went into my Amazon account and did the following:

Sign in
Click the pull down menu item "My Account"
On the left hand side of that page, there's a column called "Ordering and Shopping Preferences"
In that column, scroll down to "One Click Settings"
I saw a "turn off everywhere" option, which I chose

I hope that helps!!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

45. Thank you. I've just made sure the 1-click is turned off for my account.

I've always considered it a dangerous thing, because it could be too easy to accidentally click on it.

[volstork]

63. That's what I tried,

but did not see "turn off everywhere" option. Can you please tell me where it is on the page?

Thanks, MM!!

[renate]

70. I tried too :(

The assistant asked me to send a screenshot, which I couldn't figure out how to do until after I told her never mind. So if you chat with them, have a screenshot of your screen ready to go. "Turn off everywhere" is supposed to be on the upper right, according to what I've read.

[volstork]

71. Will check it out!

Thank you!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

19. What I'm seeing....

Log onto your account and go to.....

Your Account › Ordering and shopping preferences, then "1-Click settings "

In the upper right-hand corner of that page in a little frame, I see "disable 1-click everywhere". That should do it.

Note that it's possible your ad blocker or other security software might block that frame from showing.

KY.............

[fleur-de-lisa]

18. Thanks for the info!

[bucolic_frolic]

23. Sounds to me like a tax write-off scheme /nt

[MontanaMama]

25. Could be.

I'll be watching this and updating as facts emerge. They sent me tracking info that goes nowhere. It is a crock...it is apparently shipped from China and I'll receive it on Friday...Yeah, sure. From China to Montana with Customs in between.

[Nululu]

49. Scam

They'll claim it's shipped to make it harder to cancel when it hasn't shipped. I had a runaroumd like this a few months ago. They claim it's shipped with an arrival date, then delay, delay. Insist on canceling it.

[MontanaMama]

53. I cancelled all of the items via the seller's page

but it appears that the seller is the scammer too. As I was cancelling the items, they were emailing me shipping notices. The notices have tracking info that leads nowhere. I don’t believe the items will ever ship. Even if they do, the items I allegedly ordered are crappy and cheap and cost them pennies and they pocket the difference between their cost and the inflated price they charged...check this POS item that they charged $115:


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08681F76Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[pangaia]

26. Do you have the amazon phone # you called?

[MontanaMama]

39. I went to their chat page:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/contact-us/csp?from=gp&source=contact-us&*entries*=0&_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1& Started the chat process and followed their prompts. If you require a conversation with an Amazon rep, there’s a button to click and they call you. The widget told me I’d get a call within 5 minutes and the call came in within a minute or two. The # that came through on my phone was 206-922-0880.

[jmbar2]

27. Thank you!

Immediately deleted all my payment options.

[Demonaut]

28. what were the items?

[MontanaMama]

41. All the items were varying forms of

makeup/cosmetic/nail polish storage solutions. There was a bamboo Kleenex box holder with a couple tiny compartments for pencils or whatever and it was $80 plus $4.49 shipping from China!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0865F9581/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[yaesu]

29. Thanks, since I rarely use my account I just went in & removed my CC from my account. nt

[Kali]

30. what did "you" order?

[MontanaMama]

43. A bunch of cheesy makeup/cosmetic/nail polish

storage containers that cost a mint. I wish it had been cool stuff. Check out the plastic POS container below for $115!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08667Q81G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08681F76Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Kali]

47. top shelf thrift store items!

wonder if they come with the pre-spilled nail polish?

[MontanaMama]

48. I would hope so.

[Snake Plissken]

31. I had the same thing happen to me about 10 years ago

I won't go into the details since it was a pretty elaborate scam they were running, using properties of recently deceased people to have the items shipped to and local college students willing to make make a few dollars to pick them up, slap a prepaid shipping label on them and drop them off at UPS or FedEx.

The bottom line is I was using the same password for my Amazon account as I was for several other accounts and one of those merchants had their system hacked without notifying me, all the hackers had to do was go through the list of stolen email addresses and password at various other online retailers such as Amazon and eBay until they came across accounts that they were able to log in to and order as much as they could before the cards on file were declined.

[Warpy]

36. I got those from Amazon.uk two years ago

FWIW, I have ordered from them, usually books that aren't available here.. I just went to "my account" and no items appeared to have been ordered and none had been charged and they had an old card that is now defunct, I'll need to update if there's something else I want to read.

I figured it was a phishing attempt and simply forwarded it to Amazon.

[sonofabitchinbob]

38. Just curious do you use a vpn software

I'm not saying it would have helped I was just wondering if you use a vpn software when you are online

[warmfeet]

40. Unregulated capitalism at its finest.

Maybe, just maybe, we should have safeguards on this system.

[snort]

42. Thanks for the post.

I just deleted my card from my account. Doesn't take much time to type it in on future orders.

[MontanaMama]

44. That's what I think too.

I order quite a bit of stuff from them, actually. Mostly for my businesses. I know people hate them...but I can get what I need without leaving work to drive all over town looking for supplies. Regardless, I’m willing to type in my credit card number for future orders.

[Nululu]

46. File a police report

They won't tell you who's stealing but the police can find out and make arrests. You may be able to file the report online or on the phone.

[MontanaMama]

50. It's a good idea but

these jerks are in China....the Amazon rep was able to verify that much. I wish I could press charges and get my morning back!

[Nululu]

51. Sorry to hear

Worst is that even if Amazon bans them, they'll rename and scam again.

[MontanaMama]

55. Yes they will.

I was going to chalk it up to experience but then thought I’d better tell folks about it in case it happens to them.

[agingdem]

54. amazon...

so I ordered a game system for my grandson...it's his birthday..it was being delivered tomorrow...so I checked to make sure and I discovered the order had been canceled..made no sense...checked my credit card and amount was refunded...I checked to see if the game system was available from the same dealer and yes it was but it was $150 more on something that already pretty pricey...I contact the dealer and have heard nothing back...I rated it...1 star.

[marble falls]

56. Jeebers, that is horrifying. This all new to me. I was surprised to see how many cars ...

on the road. I hear gas is cheap.

[the_sly_pig]

57. lastpass ... fantastic .... recommend

[thenelm1]

60. I had something similar happen a little over a year ago.

I started getting e-mails from Amazon that my password had been changed. And it wasn't done by me. I went through all the same steps you did with Amazon support, but then the same thing happened all over again two weeks later. This time I found that an e-mail address had also been changed to an address ending in .ru. Amazon really had no solutions beyond the two step thing to offer so I ended up having the account frozen (they wouldn't delete it) and immediately contacted my credit card company to replace my card. I've refused to do business with Amazon since then. There were never any charges made from those changes which made me think that it may have occurred through some malware/automated process. I ain't going back until I know there is more reliable account security with their system - which probably means never.

[Behind the Aegis]

61. Amazon just banned 100's of 3-rd party stores for price gouging.

Makes me wonder if it could be one trying to recoup losses. Anyway, hope it works out for you!

[cry baby]

62. Thank you for letting us know.

I changed settings and removed cc.

[MontanaMama]

65. Good.

I don’t think you’ll regret it.

[Totally Tunsie]

64. Thank you, MM, for the heads up!

I, too, had a scam situation that I posted about yesterday, and am currently in the process of trying to dispute the order and charges with Discover.

While the circumstances were different (bait and switch), the scamming company was able to "prove" that I had actually received something so that meant they were legit and they had merely fulfilled an order. Discover agreed. I'm appealing b/c Discover did not initially require I submit any documentation, and I told them I have the original ad plus photos of the bogus item received that I would submit. Hopefully, they'll reverse their decision.

In your case, the scammer might be using the same tactic: You did receive "something" even if you didn't order or want it.

Good luck with your saga. It truly is an annoying P.I.T.A. to have to deal with these thieves.

Thanks again.

[MontanaMama]

66. What?!?

That’s nuts. IF I get anything from these loser scammers...and I doubt I will...the Amazon rep advised I refuse all shipments and send them back. Gosh I hope Discover gets on board and helps you out.

[Totally Tunsie]

68. Thanks. I think they'll come through; Discover is usually pretty good.

Once they see actual photos, the scam is pretty obvious.

The dollar amount in my case isn't something to lose sleep over, so I'll live no matter what. Your bill for $781+ is another story!

[RobinA]

67. This Seems Strange

to me. Since when does Amazon send out verification requests when you buy something? I got a couple of these and I ignored them, since I figured it was a scam. Nothing ever happened.

[MontanaMama]

69. I didn't get a verification request.

I just got the standard email notification that I had made a purchase...times 10. I knew I hadn’t made the purchases especially for those cheese wad items...and I got to work. Either Amazon got hacked or Amazon got hacked...They may or may not make it public. I can’t imagine I’m the only one this happened to.

[PuppyBismark]

72. Put alerts on all credit cards

Most all credit cards allow cardholders to set alerts on transactions. One should set alerts on any transaction where the card is not present, made from outside the country or over a set limit such as $20.00. I know American Express has the. You can get them as text and/or emails. The come within a minute as they occur.

This will stop bad guys in their tracks. It alerted me to some waiter who copied my card and used it on the internet. Nothing was shipped and the card replaced

[hangaleft]

73. Thanks for the heads up!

Sorry to hear of the hassle you went through.

My own heads up — My PayPal account was hacked recently. It’s a long story, not worth reciting. Suffice it to say I caught a $.01 hold on the credit card linked to my PayPal account that was not authorized by me. I notified the credit card issuer and closed my PayPal account.

There’s much more to this story, but the bottom line is monitor any accounts linked to your PayPal account closely. Or, do as I did — close your PayPal account.

(I didn’t bother to notify PayPal because, unlike Amazon, PayPal’s customer service sucks and it would have been a waste of time talking to them.)

[MontanaMama]

74. OMG!

This could easily be its own OP. Thanks so much for this. I use them a lot for our business.