The Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office warns of fake offers on the Amazon Marketplace.
Fraud with fake offers on the Amazon Marketplace
The State Criminal Police Office warns of cyber criminals who target both sellers and buyers.
Fraudsters use phishing emails to hijack Amazon shops and offer imaginary goods.
Cyber criminals are currently targeting sellers and buyers alike. The fraudsters use phishing emails to obtain the login details of Amazon retailers and then offer a wide variety of goods through their shops, which of course are never shipped when a purchase is made.
Amazon customers and retailers should be very careful!
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The scam with the sellers in detail:
The perpetrators write to retailers who offer goods via the Amazon portal using a phishing email. This can be, for example, a query about a product ( see example from 2016 ) or a reference to a negative review. The shop operator contacted is asked to comment on the negative review. To do this he has to click on the attached button. If you don't look closely, you'll miss that the link doesn't lead to Amazon.
After one click, the potential victim is redirected to a fake Amazon seller page, where the perpetrators then access the seller's login details.
Once the shop is in the hands of the perpetrator, the seller no longer has access to it. Within a very short period of time, the perpetrators offer mass quantities (e.g. 200,000 or 300,000 items of all kinds) for sale online. What is noticeable is that items are listed here that are not otherwise typical for the shop.
The shop operators may not notice this at first. The danger is usually only noticed when the first complaints are received from potential buyers or the shop operator tries to log into his portal.
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Anyone who has fallen for this scam as a shop operator should contact Amazon Service immediately. If you can no longer access your portal, you may find a contact .
You should then file a report with the local police. Affected business companies, whose names continue to be mentioned in the legal notice, can also contact the responsible ZAC (Central Cybercrime Contact Point for Business Companies).
If shop owners also have their own website, we recommend a note on the homepage regarding the incident. You are also welcome to refer to our report here .
The scam with buyers in detail:
Customers searching for their desired item on Amazon may also come across items that are not sold directly by or shipped through Amazon. So-called sellers or marketplace sellers can usually offer and sell their products (including used ones) on Amazon. As long as Amazon's specifications are followed, this always happens via the shopping cart and payment from Amazon. This is the only way the buyer is protected in the event of an incident (A to Z guarantee) and the communication/payment can be viewed by Amazon.
The perpetrators, who have now created their own shop or, as described above, taken over a well-running shop using phishing, quickly place masses of supposedly available products at a significantly lower price. These can also be prices that are common for used items.
A customer who, as usual, clicks the item into the shopping cart and then wants to pay, unexpectedly receives a cancellation a short time later. Anyone who is then surprised and visits the shop on Amazon will find several indications that an order should be placed via an email displayed.
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Anyone who still wants to buy the item and follows the request to contact the operator by email will receive a payment request by email shortly afterwards.
Under no circumstances should any payment (bank transfer, Western Union, etc.) be made here. The money is transferred to the perpetrators or middlemen (e.g. money laundering) and is therefore gone!
The goods do not exist and will not be delivered. Since the communication and payment took place outside of Amazon, Amazon cannot intervene and refund the money.
A sample invoice from the perpetrators will be sent by email and uses the Amazon design.
Anyone who has fallen for the scam should inform their bank or chosen payment service provider immediately. If necessary, payment can be stopped at short notice. We also advise you to file a report with the local police.
The obscured fields in the image above are usually the original shop operators, who are not responsible for the fraud and the sale of the goods. As described above, these are themselves the injured parties.
Never contact sellers outside of Amazon regarding the purchase and payment for the purchase. Only use communication, payment and purchase via Amazon (shopping cart/checkout).
Be careful if, for example, a fashion store on Amazon suddenly offers other items (e.g. graphics cards, refrigerators, hardware store items, etc.).
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Source: Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )