Amazon Impostor Scams

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With more people shopping from home than ever before, many consumers rely on delivery services like Amazon for some of the products they used to buy at store. Reports of scammers posing as the Amazon customer support have increased significantly over the past few years. Here are some tips for avoiding Amazon impostor scams:

• Beware of unsolicited phone calls claiming to be from Amazon alerting you of a “problem” with your account. Never provide these callers with account information or access to your computer, phone or tablet.
• Don’t click on links in text messages that claim to be from Amazon.
• Understand what emails and other correspondence from Amazon look like and when you might receive them. If an email looks suspicious or claims you purchased an expensive item that you didn’t, don’t take the chance of clicking on a link or following its instructions.
• Protect your Amazon username and password. Do not provide that information to anyone. Change your password regularly.
• If you are ever in doubt about correspondence you receive from Amazon, login to your account at www.amazon.com to verify the legitimacy of the message.
• If you are attempting to contact customer support do not trust a simple internet search. Only use contact information found on the Amazon website. 
• Be prepared to spot scammers using similar tactics posing as other common or essential businesses and delivery services like grocery stores, Wal-Mart, FedEx, UPS, USPS, PayPal and Netflix.

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