Internet scammers are on the rise, especially around the holidays.  People are shopping online and putting their information out there.  I recently experienced an attempted phishing scam and I want to help protect you.

Angel here and Tuesday afternoon I was working from home and received an email from what looked like Amazon.com on my phone.  I went to check it and to my surprise, it was a receipt telling me my $6,120.00 purchase of a 77-inch television and an XBOX one gaming system was on its' way and would arrive by Friday, January 15.

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I'm sorry WHAT!!!!!?  A sense of panic overwhelmed my body for about 30 seconds until I asked my boys if they had made any Amazon purchases.  Both swore up and down they didn't.  Then I snapped back into reality realizing I'm not rich and there is no way on God's green earth anyone could make that purchase on my account.

Here's the reason;

  • I have alerts in place on our bank account to let me know when we dip below a certain amount of money.
  • We do not keep large amounts of money in our checking account.
  • Our bank is great about declining foreign purchases or activity

Now here's the deal, that doesn't mean my kids couldn't tap my Amazon icon and buy something but it is highly unlikely.

When I looked at the receipt I saw a few things that were off.  First, the purchase price was astronomical.  Second, it was being delivered to someone in New York I had never even heard of.

I didn't click on any part of the email other than to open it.  I immediately went to my personal Amazon account and checked past order history and also activity.   No recent order and Amazon even said I hadn't placed an order in three months.

So I decided to look online and see if there had been any recent Amazon phishing scams. Guess what?!  There are several and here are just a few according to Kaspersky Daily

  • Amazon Prime Subscription Emails
  • An email about an item you didn't order.
  • Requests on your Amazon account or email asking you to purchase gift cards.
  • A notification claiming you received a gift or some type of bonus

There are several more to look out for these are just a few of the main and highly used scams.

Here's how you can protect yourself;

  • Install protection on any system or device that holds your personal information
  • Always be on alert that scams come from everything including emails, texts to your phone, calls, and even through the mail,
  • When entering your account information make sure you are on the Amazon site.
  • Look through each email or message that you receive from outside parties that may look different.  There are things they may stand out like wording, phone numbers, email addresses, names, etc.
  • NEVER click on a link inside an email or text.
  • If you receive an email as I did about placing an order and look at your account and check all of your activity.
  • Contact Amazon directly when you suspect you may have been scammed or an attempt on your account.

Always be on guard.  If you are ordering from a site you haven't ordered from before checking into the security of your payment.  If you feel uneasy about putting in your personal info don't do it.  Find another trusted site and order from it.

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