Tewksbury Police Warn Of Fake Amazon Order Confirmation Scam

TEWKSBURY, MA — Tewksbury police are warning of an email scam using faked Amazon shopping confirmation emails. A member of the department received an Amazon email to his work account. Fortunately, it was easily identified as a scam, as his work email is not linked to his account, according to the department's Facebook post.

The department listed one other indicator that the email is a scam, and encouraged residents to be extra careful.

"Foremost being that his work email is not linked to an Amazon account and the customer service number listed dials into a telephone survey line. Clicking any of the blue links in this email will automatically start downloading viruses and spyware onto your computer, leaving you vulnerable to ID theft and worse. Remember to always thoroughly inspect suspicious emails and when in doubt check with the business directly by logging into your account from another source. Never use the links provided," the post read.

Amazon offers a number of hints for identifying scam emails and asks people who receive fake Amazon emails to report them. They encourage people to check their actual order history, to make sure it's a real order, and to go directly to the Amazon website, rather than following links, if they're unsure about an email prompting them to update their information.

"Go to Your Account and select Payment options. If you aren't prompted to update your payment method on that screen, the message isn't from Amazon," the Amazon guide advises.