Rare Book Monthly
Phishing in the Amazon
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After reading a little deeper into the email, it became more and more suspicious. What started out sounding like a coupon for some free merchandise morphed into a "settlement." Settlement of what? Has Amazon legally wronged me? I don't think so. However, the message indicated they had wronged me to the tune of $122.95. That's more than I have spent with Amazon in my life. If Exxon admitted they had wronged me by $122.95, I would have felt shortchanged, but I don't regularly empty my wallet at Amazon. Then came the kicker. They weren't going to give me a discount on future purchases. No, they wanted to send me the money! Sure they did.
So, why couldn't Amazon just credit my account with the money? The email explained that this would "contravene federal law." Huh? The reason this would be illegal is that this was a class action settlement, and if they put the money in my Amazon account, Amazon would illegally benefit from earning interest on that money until I spent it. Therefore, they were forced to rush me the cash right away.
So how about just crediting the money back to my credit card? No, this too would be "illegal." They explained that crediting credit cards is not a legally approved method of settling class action suits. Is that true? I have absolutely no idea, but I guess it sounds authoritative.
What they could do was to directly deposit the funds to my bank account, provided I have a "linked card" with Amazon. I'm not sure what a "linked card" is, or if there is such a thing, but if there is, I am quite sure neither I nor many others have one. Most pay with normal credit cards. But not to worry. If I didn't have a linked card, there was a link I could click which would resolve the issue. That was enough for me. I do not click links in suspicious emails, nor those in many others, for that matter. I did try a cut and paste an address (url) they provided to tell me all about the settlement, but that turned out to be a nonexistent page.
Anyway, this was a new scam, and one that at least started out appearing more believable than most. For those of us who either buy or sell books, the use of Amazon as the supposed source can make it even more believable. Don't be fooled. There is no free lunch, and there is no free Gold Box Coupon. Remember that if "Amazon" emails you one. There is only fraud, and you need to keep up your guard. The sharks are phishing for you.
