New scam: How they hack your Amazon account to make purchases at your expense
Sarah Hartwell, a British Amazon customer, was stunned to discover that her account had been hacked and 26 different orders had been placed without her knowledge, totaling 1,418 pounds. It turned out that scammers were using compromised accounts to fulfill orders placed through their shops on TikTok Shop.
Sarah Hartwell, a British Amazon customer, was stunned to discover that her account had been hacked and 26 different orders had been placed without her knowledge. All orders were for the exact same product and were sent to 26 different addresses across the UK. In total, the scammers managed to steal a sum of 1,418 pounds from her account. After she contacted one of the recipients, it turned out that they had purchased the product completely legitimately through a seller on the TikTok Shop platform, without knowing that the order would be funded from a hacked account.
How does the scam method work?
Consumer experts from "Which?" who brought her story to light, explain that this is a method where scammers set up shops on TikTok Shop and advertise products for sale. When innocent customers purchase from them, the scammers use hacked Amazon accounts of other people to purchase the products and send them to the buyers. In this way, the scammers pocket the money from the buyers on TikTok, while the costs of the purchase and shipping on Amazon fall entirely on the victims whose accounts were hacked, without any cost to the scammer.
Following the inquiry by the consumer organization "Which?", Hartwell's bank, Santander, compensated her for the delay in the refund and granted her an additional compensation of 150 pounds beyond the full refund. At the same time, TikTok blocked the seller in question and clarified that it does not allow fraudulent behavior on its platform. Amazon stated that it acted immediately to secure the customer's account, remove unauthorized access, cancel the suspicious orders, and delete the payment methods and addresses entered by the scammers.
How to protect your account
To avoid similar damage, it is recommended to use strong and unique passwords for every account, and to use a password manager and two-factor authentication where possible. It is especially important to change passwords after data breach incidents, and you can check if your details have been exposed using the haveibeenpwned website. Also, it is recommended to avoid saving credit card details in online accounts to prevent purchases in case of a hack.
In the event that you have identified suspicious activity or theft of funds from your account, you must contact your bank immediately using the phone number on the back of the credit card. In addition, it is recommended to report the fraud to the relevant law enforcement authorities as soon as possible to try and stop the criminal activity.
