Excellent Fake Amazon Scam

This was an excellent scam which made me wonder and check my account! It looks like someone purchased an $1,100 Acer laptop on my account and was sending it to a stranger in Texas. At first glance, it looked legitimate.

Looking more closely at the middle section:

To check this out, I logged into my Amazon account and confirmed that no purchase was made. I did not call their number. Then I went back to the email and inspected it.

Notice that the order, though it appears to come from Amazon, actually comes from shipping-orderamazon.co

The top-level domain is not .com it is .co. Amazon would not do that. Also, the domain is not Amazon.com but shipping-orderamazon.co . Amazon would not have that for a domain.

Then I looked up that domain. They registered it with Godaddy and it was only 16 days old. I emailed Godaddy's fraud department for them to take it down. The owner redacted all tech support and other contacts for privacy. This is not something Amazon would do. The real Amazon domain is 9,737 days old (1994) and the contacts are Amazon Legal Dept. At Amazon Technologies.

The takeaways

There are two takeaways for this article:

Never use the link or phone number in any email. I won't use the links provided in emails from my bank or PGE or elsewhere. Always call the numbers you have and go to the links in your password manager.
Examine the from address carefully. It is often the best clue about fraud.

Date: August 2021

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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Home Forms About Current Newsletter subscribe Search All Articles Browse by Category Security Internet Mobile Business Hardware Fun		Excellent Fake Amazon Scam This was an excellent scam which made me wonder and check my account! It looks like someone purchased an $1,100 Acer laptop on my account and was sending it to a stranger in Texas. At first glance, it looked legitimate. Looking more closely at the middle section: To check this out, I logged into my Amazon account and confirmed that no purchase was made. I did not call their number. Then I went back to the email and inspected it. Notice that the order, though it appears to come from Amazon, actually comes from shipping-orderamazon.co The top-level domain is not .com it is .co. Amazon would not do that. Also, the domain is not Amazon.com but shipping-orderamazon.co . Amazon would not have that for a domain. Then I looked up that domain. They registered it with Godaddy and it was only 16 days old. I emailed Godaddy's fraud department for them to take it down. The owner redacted all tech support and other contacts for privacy. This is not something Amazon would do. The real Amazon domain is 9,737 days old (1994) and the contacts are Amazon Legal Dept. At Amazon Technologies. The takeaways There are two takeaways for this article: Never use the link or phone number in any email. I won't use the links provided in emails from my bank or PGE or elsewhere. Always call the numbers you have and go to the links in your password manager. Examine the from address carefully. It is often the best clue about fraud. Date: August 2021 This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
		I attempt to provide reliable information, but make no warranty as to the accuracy or safety of these articles. I disclaim all legal responsibility for what following these instructions may do. Follow my advice at your own risk