Amazon Refund Scam Resurfaces

Community members are reporting a recent increase in fraudulent calls regarding Amazon refunds.  Victims of the scam have indicated that an “Amazon representative” contacted them by telephone to issue a refund that they were not expecting. In some instances the representative states the refund is a result of fraud on their Amazon account and other times the customer is told they were overcharged for a previous purchase.

To address the issue, the fraudster instructs the victim to sign into their computer and allow remote access. They ask them to log in to their Amazon account and show them a fake screen indicating that they are owed a refund. To verify the refund, the caller directs the victim to sign into online banking, where they move money between accounts to make it appear as though a refund was received.

The fraudster then acts panicked and tells the customer they accidentally credited them too much; stating they will be fired if they don’t get the excess funds back. They say they cannot debit the account and the customer needs to go to the nearest store to purchase Visa gift cards as a means of sending back the excess funds.

If the unsuspecting victim follows along with all of the steps, their device, Amazon account and online banking are all compromised and vulnerable to additional fraud and identity theft. The victim also loses any money they send the fraudster via gift card.

Amazon will never contact you by phone to issue a refund and will never request remote access to your device or online banking. If you receive a similar call, hang up and contact Amazon directly using the phone number provided on their website to file a report.