Amazon Inside Job? Phishing for Government ID
The end of this post displays an e-mail I received while on the phone with Amazon trying to get a refund completed. As will become apparent, it is hard to see how I could have received this message ex an inside job by Amazon employees, since it contains a combination of information that would not be available otherwise, even by wiretapping. The phishing message was attempting to get me up upload government ID to an external site. Amazon’s customer service representative confirmed they never request government.
So this is a general warning never never never upload government ID in connection with a commercial transaction, and a further warning regarding Amazon refunds as Black Friday is on and the holiday season approaches.
Now to the details. I have to confess to dealing more with Amazon now that I am in Southeast Asia than when in the US. There are quite a few items that I cannot get here (particularly related to Macs, such as compatible USB keyboards; they are a comparative rarity due to price) and Amazon will ship from the US. However, there are also items I use that I find important that no one will send here. So on a recent trip to the US, I bought many things to carry back. Some I got on Amazon because other vendors would not give clear guidance on their shipping and typical delivery times to where I was.
I purchased two of the same item, from an Amazon vendor, to be sent my hotel. When I opened the exterior box, the inner boxes both had label on their outside saying they were the item ordered. Some reviews this product praised the inner packaging (the items were breakable) so I simply put these boxes in with the other checked luggage items.
