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Do you really have an Amazon refund coming, or is it a scam?

Fake refund messages have surged in the wake of Prime Day

Updated:

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By:
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Mark Huffman
Reporter

Mark Huffman has covered consumer issues since 2004, with a special focus on protecting and empowering older adults. A former news correspondent for the Associated Press Radio Network, Westwood One, and ConsumerAffairs, Mark brings decades of journalistic experience to RetirementLiving.com. He is passionate about giving consumers a voice and helping them make informed decisions. Mark has also created educational content, including Senior Scam Alert, a video resource designed to help seniors recognize and avoid fraud. He holds a B.A. from the University of Kentucky and lives with his family in Richmond, Virginia.

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

Key Insights

  • Amazon refund scams are on the rise, especially following Prime Day, with fraudulent text messages claiming users are owed a refund; clicking on the links may lead to phishing websites designed to steal Amazon credentials.
  • Warning signs of scam texts include unfamiliar or foreign phone numbers, messages about unexpected orders or deliveries, and suspicious links with typos or odd formats (such as numeric IP addresses).
  • Amazon and cybersecurity experts advise caution—delete suspicious texts immediately and verify any claims by logging directly into your Amazon account rather than clicking on links in the message.

To scammers, it’s simply a numbers game. If they send out 10 million text messages claiming to be from Amazon about a refund, odds are that hundreds of thousands of recipients will be Amazon customers and vulnerable to the scam.

Amazon has recently warned customers about one particular scam – a text message that tells the recipient they have a refund coming. And who doesn’t want to hear that?

“Scammers may send text messages claiming to be Amazon,” the online retailer said on its website. Be mindful if:”

  • You receive a text message sent from phone numbers that you don’t recognize or from a number with a country code that differs from your country of residence.
  • You receive text messages for orders or deliveries that you are not expecting.
  • You receive text messages that contain phishing links with URLs that are misspelled, have typos, or have a link that is an IP address.

A surge since Prime Day

Amazon provided an example of what one of these scam texts looks like:

Cybersecurity experts at Guardio tell Forbes that these types of scams are surging in the wake of Prime Day. They report Amazon refund text scams have increased 50-fold in the last two weeks.

Scammers are hoping that recipients will click on the link in the message that will take them to an Amazon look-alike web page. There, recipients will be instructed to log in with their Amazon credentials. If they do, the scammer steals that information and can order thousands of dollars in merchandise. 

If you receive one of these texts, the FBI suggests you should delete it immediately. If you are uncertain about the message’s validity, log in to your account and check.