ATLANTA — A spreading text alert going out to Amazon customers has been generating complaints across social media.
The text reports your Amazon account has been locked because of "multiple failed login attempts to your account" and provides a link for you to recover your account.
The text warns: "Please take action on your account within 48 hours to avoid permanent suspension" and is signed off with, "Regards, Amazon Service."'
Many have said they've gotten the text alert multiple times in the same day.
11Alive's Liza Lucas verifies what's real and what isn't here.
Question
Are scammers sending texts about locked accounts impersonating Amazon?
Our sources
Answer
Yes, these texts are a phishing scam.
What we found
To start, the Federal Trade Commission said it is seeing a spike in reports in random texts such as the one Amazon customers have recently said they've gotten.
It started last fall with people getting text messages looking like they are from well-known companies.
The FTC said details vary, but warns scammers are all after the same thing: Your money and personal information.
We also know thieves have a history of pretending to be Amazon. According to the online retailer's website, the company initiated takedowns of more than 20,000 phishing websites and 10,000 scam numbers - just in 2022.
And we verified with the company that texts like the ones recently reported, claiming a customer's account has been locked, are a common phishing tactic.
Amazon said in a statement:
"Scammers that attempt to impersonate Amazon put consumers and our brand at risk. Although these scams take place outside our store, we will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on scam avoidance. We encourage consumers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe. Please visit our help pages to find additional information on how to identify scams and report them at amazon.com/ReportAScam."
So yes, we can verify that scam texts impersonating Amazon are circulating once again.
The FTC has one simple message for unexpected texts like these: Don't click the links.