Even if you don’t do anything wrong as a buyer, you can be overwhelmed with reminder letters. And with legitimate warning letters. The reason: A new Amazon scam that is to be used from mid-2022. The LKA warns.
Scams are part of everyday life on eBay classifieds and many other platforms. Amazon has a much better reputation there. However, it is questionable whether reality can keep up with this reputation. Because recently, two major scams have been exposed. As part of the first scam, buyers would be left with no money and a 16 TB SSD in the worst case . In contrast, the second scam threatens with much more serious consequences, as discussed by the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA) .
AMAZON SCAM: WARNINGS ARE POURING IN
Basically, fake shops are not uncommon. And the Amazon Marketplace isn’t completely immune to them either. Although a new scam would almost deserve respect for its creativity – if it didn’t cause unsuspecting buyers a lot of stress and possibly worse. In a first step, cybercriminals use phishing to get hold of themselvesthe access data to a real marketplace shop with good ratings. The perpetrators then offer a wide variety of products for sale – even in the lower price segment. And at exceptionally good prices. If a buyer has struck at the supposed bargain, he pays in the usual way and the perpetrators are also paid out via the usual Amazon payment methods. But that is only the beginning.
At this point, the perpetrators order the goods sold from another online shop and enter the address of the Amazon buyer as the delivery address. However, the e-mail used to process the order is one of the scammers. Now the buyer receives the goods and is initially satisfied. Means: He does not report to Amazon with a complaint and the fake shop remains undiscovered. The actual, real seller meanwhile turns to the perpetrators and not to the recipient with the invoice to be paid and further requests for payment. So they are simply ignored. The deception is only revealed as soon as the Internet retailer sends a letter to the Amazon buyer. But according to the LKA, it can take about six months for that to happen. Plenty of time for the cybercriminals, to pursue their craft undetected. And possibly even get good ratings.
HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOURSELF?
It is currently not known how many people fell for this scam. According to the LKA, this is also due to the fact that scammers only used the scam from summer 2022 and many warning letters could therefore only arrive now. It is also unclear to what extent damaged shops could take legal action against the goods recipients. But even if this cup passes by the Amazon buyers, the reminders sent or possible debt collection procedures could already result in a poorer credit rating at the next Schufa report and other credit bureaus.
Unfortunately, there is no perfect protection against this scam. But buyers can pay attention to numerous indicators during the purchase process. First of all, it is important to take a look at the product ratings as well as those of the marketplace shops. You should also pay attention to particularly low purchase prices. A retailer is selling a 65 inch Samsung TVfor about 200 euros, then things can’t go right here. Atypical products could also be an indication – if, for example, a camera shop were suddenly to sell beer glasses. And last but not least, buyers should always pay attention to the sender when receiving goods. For example, if you bought a product from an unknown Amazon Marketplace retailer and sent it to Notebookscheaper, that is reason to be suspicious. Only products that are sold or at least shipped by Amazon offer 100% security .
