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I just got a following email from payment-messages@amazon.com:
Dear ____
Greetings from Amazon Payments.
Your bank has contacted us regarding some attempts of charges from your credit card via the Amazon system. We have reasons to believe that you changed your registration information or that someone else has unauthorized access to your Amazon account Due to recent activity, including possible unauthorized listings placed on your account, we will require a second confirmation of your identity with us in order to allow us to investigate this matter further. Your account is not suspended, but if in 48 hours after you receive this message your account is not confirmed we reserve the right to suspend your Amazon registration. If you received this notice and you are not the authorized account holder, please be aware that it is in violation of Amazon policy to represent oneself as another Amazon user. Such action may also be in violation of local, national, and/or international law. Amazon is committed to assist law enforcement with any inquires related to attempts to misappropriate personal information with the intent to commit fraud or theft. Information will be provided at the request of law enforcement agencies to ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
To confirm your identity with us click here:
... followed by a link that takes me to an add/update credit card page on the Amazon.com page, which looks reasonably legit. Except it has a slot for my ATM PIN number, like, the hell? Why would Amazon want to know my ATM PIN number? I just want to run it by here to make sure it isn't some scam. Has anyone received emails like this from Amazon? I've checked my credit card statement, and there aren't any unauthorized purchases.
Looks like it's a phishing expedition:
[link]
Amazon would not send out an email like that.
It's a scam.
I got something like that and went to Amazon (not by following a link) and their people said that they never send out email like that.
Sounds like a scam to me. I'd log into Amazon NOT using their link, and see if there are any messages in your account.
You might want to forward the email to Amazon.
Yeah, right? It sounds suspicious. Plus, under the link, there is this message:
After responding to the message, we ask that you allow at least 72 hours for the case to be investigated. Emailing us before that time will result in delays. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you and we would like to thank you for your cooperation as we review this matter.
"Don't email us to inquire if this is legit," like way to raise suspicion, dude. On the other hand, the link provided goes something like, blah blah amazon.com/exec/... ending with sign-in-secure/html and it takes me to what appears to be an amazon.com page. Still, if the registration does get suspended, I imagine I'd be able to reinstitute it somehow. Maybe I should call their customer service number or contact them through email...
ETA: Thanks for the advice, everyone. I shall email Amazon on their website and see if they've sent something like this. I doubt it.
The URL has been spoofed to look like a legit amazon URL. It's a scammedy scam scam scam.
The link Tom gave has the essentially the same message as the one in my email. Whew. Thank Jebus I asked here first before hitting "send", 'cause I started filling out the reply before realizing that this sounded fishy.