Amazon Locked Account Scam: How It Works
Watch out for the new Amazon Locked Account scam. It is a text message claiming to be from Amazon’s headquarters and informing you that your account could be compromised after being accessed in a different country. The scammers ask you to verify your account in order to unlock it. It is a classic phishing scheme that also happens in an email version. Let’s see.
Here is how the Amazon Locked Account scam works:
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Amazon Locked Account Text: How To Avoid
Here is the content of the Amazon locked account text message (word for word): “Your account has just entered from a new device. Here’s the information that we have: IP Address: 6.3.29.34; Country: Cameroon. For security reasons of the Amazon community, we lock your account to avoid illegal activities from your account. You can reuse your Amazon after you verify the account ownership by clicking the link below“.
This text is full of grammar mistakes. Horrendous. If you spotted them, it’s easy for you to avoid the scam. Unfortunately, thousands of others do not notice the red flags.
The locked Amazon account scam is not new. They will probably keep coming for the next few months, too. Watch out for Amazon scam calls, too.
How To Spot Red Flags
Whether it is about the Amazon Locked account scam or other suspicious text messages coming from fake brands, here are 6 signs that can help you identify fraud:
- A link in a message looks right, but the URL doesn’t match the company’s website.
- The other way around: branding is replicated almost perfectly, but the link seems weird (look at the image above to see different foreign characters in the word “Amazon”).
- The sender’s phone number doesn’t match the company’s name that it claims to be from.
- The message looks different from other text messages you’ve received from the company.
- The text message is unsolicited and contains an attachment.
- The message requests personal information, like a credit card number or login credentials.
Amazon Account Locked Text: How To Report a Scammer
Warn your family and online friends about the Amazon Account Locked Text. Please share this article on social media using the buttons provided. You can also officially report the scammers and the suspicious numbers to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) using the link below:
How To Prevent Identity Theft
If you want to get the most prevalent scams every week (via email), then feel free to subscribe to the Scam Detector newsletter. You’ll receive periodic messages – we promise not to spam. Meanwhile, educate yourself with other Amazon-related articles below. Last but not least, feel free to use the Comments section below to expose other Amazon scams.
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I received 11 calls within 45 min. from numbers that had my area code but the last four digits were different for each one. They kept leaving voicemails (with totally different numbers from the number the call was from) saying it was Amazon customer service. On the last call I finally answered because I was going to find out what was going on. It was someone saying that my Amazon account was used to purchase something for $797 and if i wanted to dispute it to press 1. I did and a foreigner answered, couldn’t hardly understand him. I asked who it was (in a not so nice manner because after my phone ringing constantly for 45 min. I was pretty aggravated). He started to say Jack and changed to John, yeah right, how stupid is that? I immediately hung up. I checked my Amazon account and there was no charge, I changed my password just to be on the safe side and I also checked my credit card account to make sure there was no charge also. There wasn’t. These people need to be caught and put in jail.
Yester day I answered a call with the proper area code for where we live, 907 Alaska. The recording says that someone had charged $700. to my account and if that weren’t trure to press one to speak to someone. I did, and a foreigner with heavy accent started to say something then hung up. I had to call Amazon anyway abt. a return and asked abt it. No record of the call or $700. charge.
On 4/8/21 I received a text in an unusual font from 833-436-1156 telling me that my “Amazon account billing has been locked for security reasons. Please review your account follow the link below” (Not, to review your account follow the link below, but this exact sentence). The link gives https://amznpagesec.com/r/LIAXRj9?code=F220GTA , which is NOT amazons address. I deleted the text.
Refund scam +1808-481-5301