to post this "Amazon" scam email in AIBU?

[PausingFlatly]

Thus risking the wrath of Trills. But if I put it in Chat it'll disappear.

Anyway, it's prettily formatted and has a https link, so I thought worth sharing a warning.

Hello,
Starting September 2014 Amazon is makeing integrity checks related to his customers accounts, how they use the account and if the account is still used by the customer. If the customer account is not used for a longer period of time (2 mounth) it will be disabled by Amazon Team and then removed in the next two months of inactivity.

To validate that you use this Amazon account please use the generated link as follows:

[dodgy https link]

Additional Information
The procedures to disable and then delete the account acording to the Terms and Conditions of usage will take place in 48 hours after this email was send.
- The verification procedure requires a very short time from the customer.
- The generated link above is only active for 48 hours.
If during this period the customer does not make verification account will be disabled until further notice.

Thank you for your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience that this may create.

Amazon Customers Service.
Please note: This email was sent from a notification-only address that can't accept incoming email.
Please do not reply to this message.

It's fortunate they can't spell, isn't it?

Can't spell and seem to think Amazon is a man!

I had one the other day which started with 'Salutations'!

The only trouble was it was one that made it to my inbox as it had come from a friend's account that had been hijacked, and she's the sort of person who would start an email with that sort of jokey comment. Luckily the linky was only advertising.

I got this version;
"
Hello Igneococcus,

This is an important message from Amazon.

At Amazon we take your security and privacy very seriously. As part of our routine monitoring, we discovered a list of email address and password sets posted online. While the list was not Amazon-related, we know that many customers reuse their passwords on several websites. We believe your email address and password set was on that list. So we have taken the precaution of resetting your Amazon password. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused but felt that it was necessary to help protect you and your Amazon account.

To regain access to your Amazon customer account:

1. Go to Amazon and click the "Your Account" link at the top of our website.

2. Click the link that says "Forgot your password?"

3. Follow the instructions to set a new password for your account.

Please choose a new password and do not use the same password you used with us previously. We also highly recommend that you chose a password that you are not using on any other sites. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Sincerely,

Amazon

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our website."

Old password still works absolutely fine.

I must be thick. I'm not seeing how Igneococcus' email is a scam.

Igneococcus - your old password will work, they're just advising you to change it yourself.

That's a genuine one thought, isn't it?

No, they are telling me that they have changed my password and that I need to click on the "forgot your password" link to be able to get back into my account, which I don't. I just ordered something using my old password.

Igneo, that's interesting.

• It uses your name, so already has access to your account
• It tells you to go to the main Amazon site and log in there, rather than "here's our dodgy link for you to click"

So it has a high chance of genuinely being from Amazon.

It's a bit that your old password still works. May be worth emailing Amazon - at address from their site, natch - to follow that up.

They're directing you to a page they control to 'reset' it.

So they get both old (and can use your account until you notice) and the new. And might try those passwords on anything else of yours they have unearthed.

Yeah, yours sounds genuine, Igneococcus. Especially if it says go straight to Amazon and not "click this dodgy link that will pretend to be Amazon."

X-posts. Definitely depends if it said go directly to Amazon or not.

"- It tells you to go to the main Amazon site and log in there, rather than "here's our dodgy link for you to click""

This is what makes me wonder about if it is genuine as well but as I said the password worked without a problem.
I might talk to amazon and check.

Sorry, read it again (and properly this time). If you change on the genuine Amazon page that you have navigated to yourself (not from the email), then I can't see what a scammer would get from it. Unless the email was a Trojan and your password change is the first thing the virus causes to be sent.

I've read that scam emails, especially the Nigerian Prince kind, deliberately use bad spelling.

It costs them basically nothing to send out the original email, but past that point it costs them more time/effort per person who responds, so they want to get to the super-gullible people early on.

10,000 well-written emails
100 people reply = 100 people's worth of effort dealing with them
most drop off, only 1 actually gives you anything

10,000 poorly-written emails
10 people reply = 10 people's worth of effort dealing with them
in the end it's still that 1 gullible person who gives you something
but you've spent 10x less effort

Yes, I would check. Amazon itself should have an announcement somewhere on its page advising if they've sent out emails.

info here

I tend to Google email addresses or phone numbers if I'm not sure whether it is a scam. I saved my self from spending £1000 on a deposit for a flat after I Googled 'Stella Kelvin'

Out of interest does anybody else get text messages saying

" Hi you received (1) new photo message. Click here to see me!
"

You cannot see a number, it comes through as "NewMessage" almost as if I have saved the number under that name myself.

I've emailed them, lets see what they say.

Igneo, that email is genuine. My account was hacked and used this week.
see how its asking you to go to amazon outside of the email and click on the password change there? If it were a scam the idea would be to get you to click on a fake amazon link within the email. There is no benefit to scammers for you to go directly to amazon and sort it there.

I've had scam emails proclaiming to be from BT recently.

They look quite genuine and say that as I haven't paid my bill, I need to follow the link and pay it ASAP. I pay mine by DD so knew it was a scam so phoned BT and sent then the email.
These scammers are everywhere.

Igneo, I don't think it's telling you that you old password won't work, but that you should change it yourself asap because there is a possibility your password has been leaked elsewhere. Sounds genuine.

grocklebox I'm almost cvonvinced by now as well that it is genuine, they also got my name right which barely anyone ever does, but the one thing that I still find a bit weird is that I can still get into my account with my old password despite that they say they changed it.

I keep ones pretending to be from Facebook telling me I have unread messages soon to be deleted, then I have to click dodgy link.

The best way to query anything with amazon is through the livechat function as its pretty much impossible for anyone to intercept. And they should be able to tell you straight away what the story is.
I would change your password anyway, quick as you can.

Was there a link to Amazon in the email, Igneococcus? I know some are good at replicating the homepage of a website.

I also notice there is a misspelling (chose instead choose) if you've copied the email directly.