Amazon scams
Last updated September 18, 2026
The short answer
Amazon is the most impersonated brand in the United States. The scams are fake order confirmations with a number to call, "Amazon Prime is renewing" robocalls, and texts about a suspended account. Amazon will never call you unprompted, never asks for remote access to your device, and never takes payment in gift cards.
Amazon impersonation works on scale rather than on precision. Most American households have an Amazon account, most are expecting a delivery at any given moment, and almost nobody remembers exactly what they ordered last week — so a confirmation for something unfamiliar produces the one reaction the scam needs, which is to check. The email or text supplies a number to call, and the call is where everything that matters happens: remote access, a manufactured refund, or a gift card.
How Amazon scams work
- 1
The order you did not place
An email or text confirms an expensive order — a phone, a laptop, a gift card — shipping to an address that is not yours. It gives a number to cancel or dispute rather than a link, which both evades filters and forces the call.
- 2
The call becomes a refund scam
The "Amazon representative" confirms the fraudulent order and offers a refund, which requires connecting to your computer. During the remote session they control what you see, manufacture an overpayment, and ask you to return the difference in gift cards.
- 3
The Prime renewal robocall
A recorded call says your Prime membership is about to renew for $79.99 or $139 and to press 1 to cancel. Pressing 1 connects you to a person who asks for card details, remote access, or both.
- 4
Account suspension phishing
A message says your account has been locked for unusual activity, linking to a copy of the Amazon sign-in page. Credentials plus a relayed one-time code give real-time access to your order history, saved cards and addresses.
- 5
Gift cards, and the driver at the door
Victims of other scams are routinely sent to buy Amazon gift cards. Separately, someone posing as a delivery driver may ask for a customs or handling fee at the door — real drivers never collect money.
Warning signs
- An order confirmation for something you did not buy, with a phone number rather than a link
- A robocall about a Prime membership renewal
- A message says your account is suspended or locked
- The sender address does not end in @amazon.com, or the link is not amazon.com
- You are asked to install remote-access software to get a refund
- A refund appears larger than it should and you are asked to return the difference
- Anyone asks you to pay for anything with Amazon gift cards
- A "delivery driver" asks for an additional fee at your door
Examples
The $1,299 laptop
An email confirms a $1,299 laptop shipping to an address in another state, with a number to dispute it. The "representative" installs remote access to "process the reversal", opens the victim's banking session, and shows a $5,000 refund where $500 was intended. She buys $4,500 in Amazon gift cards to correct the "mistake" and reads out the codes in the car park.
Press 1 to cancel Prime
A robocall warns of a $139 Prime renewal. Pressing 1 connects to an agent who says a refund requires installing AnyDesk. The membership was never renewing; the number was dialled at random across an area code.
What to do
- Check your real orders by opening the Amazon app or typing amazon.com. If it is not in Your Orders, it does not exist.
- Never call a number from an email, a text or a pop-up. Use Amazon's Customer Service through the app.
- Never install remote-access software, and never let anyone watch you log into your bank.
- Never buy gift cards at anyone's instruction. Amazon gift cards buy things from Amazon and nothing else.
- Turn on two-factor authentication and check Your Addresses for any you did not add.
- Forward spoofed emails to stop-spoofing@amazon.com and report impersonation at amazon.com/reportascam.
Report it to Amazon
Report impersonation at amazon.com/reportascam and forward spoofed emails to stop-spoofing@amazon.com.
Getting your money back
Amazon's A-to-Z Guarantee covers orders you actually placed through Amazon that never arrived or were not as described — file within the stated window from Your Orders. It does not cover money sent to a scammer. If a remote session happened, call your bank from a different phone and have them review the transfers: the "overpayment" is almost always a movement between your own accounts, and seeing that settles it. Report gift card codes to Amazon immediately at 1-888-280-4331 with the numbers and receipts — unspent balances are sometimes frozen, and only speed decides. Then treat the computer as compromised and change passwords from a different device.
Frequently asked questions
Does Amazon call customers about orders or accounts?
Amazon rarely calls, and never to ask for a password, remote access, card details or gift cards. If a call is about a problem you did not report, hang up and check Your Orders in the app. That takes thirty seconds and answers it completely.
How do I know whether an order is real?
Open the Amazon app or type amazon.com and look in Your Orders. Every genuine order is there. A confirmation email that does not correspond to anything in Your Orders is a fake, no matter how well made it is.
Can scammers send real Amazon emails?
They cannot send from Amazon's systems, but they can produce extremely convincing copies — and the highest-performing version has no link at all, only a phone number, so there is nothing for a filter to catch. Judge the message by whether the order exists in your account, not by how it looks.
Why do scammers ask for Amazon gift cards?
Because they are sold everywhere, carry high balances, and the code transfers value instantly and untraceably once read aloud. No legitimate debt, fine, fee or refund is ever settled with a gift card — the request alone is a complete answer.
Other companies scammers impersonate
Scams reuse their scripts across brands. If you were contacted about Amazon, these are the guides worth reading next.