During the pandemic, many people use Amazon to conveniently shop and have their purchases shipped directly to their door. One target of cyber-criminals is to gain access to your Amazon account in order to order “stuff” from your account, using your credit cards, and have the “stuff” mailed to their address.
How do the hackers gain access to your Amazon account?
Sometimes it is a mystery, but I suspect it starts with a scary, phishing e-mail or phone call about some large purchase that you did not make. The instructions ask you to call to get a refund or to click a link in the e-mail to log into your Amazon account through their fraudulent link where the hacker captures your Amazon logon credentials. Beware of clicking on links in e-mails!
What to do if your Amazon account has been hacked?
Correcting the damage done by the hacker and preventing future damage can be time consuming and a pain in the neck, and it has to be done as soon as you discover you have been hacked. Take the following 10 steps to protect your money and your identity.
- 1. Log into your Amazon account and print all details about the fraudulent purchases and purchaser (what, how much, name, address and phone number of the purchaser).
NOTE: you may need to contact Amazon if the hacker changed your logon password. - 2. Contact Amazon to report the fraud. They can remove the hacker and fraudulent purchases from your account. It may take a day or two for Amazon to investigate the fraud.
- 3. Reset your passwords, for: Amazon.com, your online banking, your credit card online access, your PayPal account, your e-mail accounts, etc.
- 4. Contact your bank(s) / credit card(s) to report fraud. They will reissue new credit card(s), debit card(s), open new checking accounts and transfer money to your new account, etc. They may also reimburse you for the amount of the fraudulent purchases.
- 5. Request your bank(s) and credit card(s) to notify you about any purchases exceeding $1000 (you select the amount).
- 6. Contact any companies whom you have authorizes to make deposits (e.g., social security, pension, payroll) and withdrawals (e.g., home / car insurance, electric, HP instant ink, etc.) to these accounts and give them the new account numbers.
- 7. Take the old payment account numbers out of Amazon and PayPal (these are the accounts closed due to reported fraud).
- 8. Once you get the new credit cards in the mail, you may put those new payment methods back into Amazon and PayPal to enable ordering online from Amazon again.
- 9. Put a lock on your credit at the credit reporting agencies (Experian.com, Equifax.com, Transunion.com) so the hacker cannot open new credit cards sent to their address using your credit rating. Review your credit report and report any suspicious information to the credit reporting agency.
- 10. Check your Amazon.com account history when making a purchase to spot any fraudulent activity / purchases made from your account. If any spotted, go back to step 1.
I am committed to protect your computers at an affordable price. Thank you for trusting me to keep your computers healthy. Contact us at 239-567-0104 when it is time to renew your protection software, or if you need computer and internet help. Be well.
By Linda Lindquist, March 7, 2022
https://www.computerandinternethelp.com/contact-us
