Fake Amazon Calls, Emails and Texts: The Warning Signs Amazon UK Lists and Where to Report an Impersonation Scam

Amazon is one of the best-known names criminals borrow when they want a message to look genuine. Amazon’s own UK help pages describe impersonation scams as cases where a scammer pretends to be a trustworthy organisation or person to steal money or personal information, by phone, email, text or even social media. This guide sets out the warning signs Amazon lists for each channel and where to report a scam. Points about Amazon’s behaviour are the company’s own statements. See also the site’s wider guide to impersonation scams. The information is general, not legal or financial advice.

What an impersonation scam wants

Amazon says scammers aim to get a payment of some kind, personal information, or access to a computer. They do this by pretending to be a well-known organisation with which the victim has probably dealt. Its help page lists these red flags:

False urgency. Scammers create a sense of urgency to persuade a person to do what they are asking.
Requests for personal information. Addresses, payment information, account login credentials or other financial information.
Purchases outside Amazon. Requests to send money outside the Amazon website or app, through a third-party site or wire transfer.
Payment by gift card. Requests to buy gift cards and provide the number, claim code or PIN.
Unexpected orders. A notification of an order or delivery that was not placed. Amazon says correspondence about an order that was not placed likely did not come from Amazon, and it advises checking Your Orders instead.

Fake phone calls

Amazon’s guidance says it is fine to hang up. A person who feels uneasy on a call from someone claiming to be Amazon can end it and contact Customer Service through the Amazon app or website. It says to be alert if the caller:

asks for payment over the phone or outside the website, such as by bank transfer, emailed card details or gift card details, and may even offer an unexpected refund;
tries to get remote access to a device by asking for an app to be installed or a one-time password (OTP) to be shared;
asks for the Amazon password, card details or a bank account number in order to “unlock” the account;
creates a false emergency, such as claiming a subscription is expiring or unauthorised purchases were made, to pressure a person into acting immediately.

Amazon states that it will never ask for a password, OTP, gift card details, bank card details or any other confidential information over the phone.

Fake emails

Amazon says scammers imitate email addresses and communication styles. Its checks include:

Message Centre. Message Centre holds all email communication sent by Amazon. If an email does not appear there, Amazon says it was not sent by Amazon.
Sender address. Look for misspellings or added or substituted characters. Approved Amazon emails contain Amazon.co.uk and come from an Amazon.co.uk address.
Links. Typos, grammatical errors, and links to websites that resemble Amazon are warning signs. Legitimate Amazon addresses have a dot before amazon.co.uk, and links to IP addresses are not legitimate Amazon website addresses.

Amazon adds that legitimate emails may include links to secure Amazon pages rather than attachments, and that the link should lead to an Amazon domain.

Fake text messages

According to Amazon’s page on SMS scams, a text is not from Amazon if it includes an unrecognised phone number or one with a country code different from the recipient’s country of residence, refers to an order or delivery that is not expected, or contains phishing links with misspelled URLs, typos or an IP address. Amazon says it will never ask by text message for personal information, payment details or gift card codes, or ask a person to call a phone number.

What to do with a suspicious message

Do not act on it. Amazon’s advice is to verify any suspicious email, call or message before taking action, and its help page says to forward it to [email protected].
Check Your Orders or Message Centre directly in the Amazon app or website rather than using any link or number in the message.
Report it. Amazon asks for suspicious communications to be forwarded as an attachment to [email protected], and it says it will not reply personally, though an automatic confirmation may arrive.

Reporting in the UK

Citizens Advice, in advice that applies to England, says all types of scam should be reported to Report Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud, on 0300 123 2040. A scam text can be forwarded to 7726, and a scam email to [email protected], which goes to the National Cyber Security Centre. It also says that an item received unexpectedly, if it was not a gift, could be a scam, and that the retailer should be told and the account password changed. If money has been paid, the police should be contacted on 101 where the scammer is local or money was transferred within the last 24 hours. The site’s guide to where to report a scam in the UK gives more detail on each channel.

Frequently asked questions

Can a genuine Amazon representative ask for a one-time password?

Amazon states that legitimate representatives will never ask for OTP codes over the phone, and that a caller who does should be hung up on.

Does an unexpected order confirmation mean the account has been hacked?

Not necessarily. Amazon says correspondence about an order that was not placed likely did not come from Amazon, and advises checking order history directly.

The bottom line

According to Amazon UK, genuine contact will not demand payment outside the website, gift card codes, one-time passwords or confidential details, and genuine emails appear in Message Centre. Ending the contact, checking through the app or website and reporting the message are the safe responses, with Report Fraud, 7726 and [email protected] available in the UK.