Amazon spoof email alert

**YankeeMom** · 08-02-2005, 04:45 PM

Just yesterday I was in my Amazon seller acct and put myself "on vacation" just because things are too hectic for both dh & I right now to deal with going to the post office to ship things.

This morning I wake up to this in my email, titled Amazon Payments Issue:

Dear heathercox75@yahoo.com ,

Greetings from Amazon Payments.

Your bank has contacted us regarding some attempts of charges from your credit card via the Amazon system. We have reasons to believe that you changed your registration information or that someone else has unauthorized access to your Amazon account Due to recent activity, including possible unauthorized listings placed on your account, we will require a second confirmation of your identity with us in order to allow us to investigate this matter further. Your account is not suspended, but if in 48 hours after you receive this message your account is not confirmed we reserve the right to suspend your Amazon registration. If you received this notice and you are not the authorized account holder, please be aware that it is in violation of Amazon policy to represent oneself as another Amazon user. Such action may also be in violation of local, national, and/or international law. Amazon is committed to assist law enforcement with any inquires related to attempts to misappropriate personal information with the intent to commit fraud or theft. Information will be provided at the request of law enforcement agencies to ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

To confirm your identity with us click here:
link removed for safety

After responding to the message, we ask that you allow at least 72 hours for the case to be investigated. Emailing us before that time will result in delays. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you and we would like to thank you for your cooperation as we review this matter.

Thank you for your interest in selling at Amazon.com.

Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com

This message and any files or documents attached may contain classified information. It is intended only for the individual or entity named and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the intended recipient or authorized to receive it, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately then delete it from your system. Please also note that transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free.

It sounded a little hokey, because I knew I had just been in my acct the day before. And I haven't bought anything or used a credit card through them in literally MONTHS. Not only that, but my credit card isn't through my bank...
So I opened a new window and went directly to amazon.com and sent them an inquiry, copying & pasting everything from the email to them.

I just heard back from them:

Thank you for writing to Amazon.com to bring this to our attention.

The message you received was not sent to you by Amazon.com. We
are investigating the situation.

You did the right thing by contacting us.

For your protection, we suggest that you never respond to requests
for personal information that may be contained in the forged e-
mail. Likewise, never follow any instructions contained in the
forged e-mail that claim to provide a method for "unsubscribing."
Many spammers use these "unsubscribe" processes to create a list
of valid, working e-mail addresses.

Please be assured that Amazon.com is not in the business of
selling customer information. Many spammers and spoofers use
programs that randomly generate e-mail addresses, in the hope that
some percentage of these randomly-generated addresses will
actually exist.

Amazon.com has recently taken steps to combat e-mail forgeries
such as this in the U.S. and Canada; you can read more about our
efforts here:

http://www.amazon.com/stopspoofing

As part of our ongoing commitment to stop spoofing, we'd like you
to help us investigate this problem.

Please send the original spoofed e-mail as an attachment to stop-
spoofing@amazon.com. Sending the e-mail as an attachment is the
best way to preserve the "header information," which makes it
easier for Amazon.com to trace the true origin of the forgery.

If you cannot send the forged e-mail as an attachment, forward the
e-mail to stop-spoofing@amazon.com, and include as much of the
header information as you are able to maintain. To find the
header information, configure your e-mail program to show All
Headers (this varies from program to program). The headers we need
are well labeled and look something like this:

X-Sender: someone@domain.com
X-Sender-IP: [10.1.2.3]
X-Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 21:02:08 +0000 (UTC)
X-Recipient: you@domain.com
X-OUID: 1

Please understand that Amazon.com will not be able to respond to
all of the e-mails it receives through the stop-
spoofing@amazon.com mailbox. If you have specific questions about
an order or other customer service concerns, check the Help
section of our Web site.

If you encounter any other uses of the Amazon.com name that you
think may be fraudulent, please do not hesitate to contact us
again. The Internet is a large and fairly unregulated universe;
it is only through our constant vigilance and with the help of
others like yourself that we can ensure that our name is not
misappropriated for illegitimate uses.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us.

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=baeehfer3224896808
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=baeehfer3224896808

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 web site.

Best regards,

Auxilie Amirtharaj
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com
==============================

What was really strange was, if I hadn't been actually in my acct the day before, I might have thought this was real. I went to Amazon and the link to the payment issues looked identical (except for the gobbly-gook at the end) to the amazon link. How can hackers make URLs that look like legit sites yet open you up completely?

Just beware!! ALWAYS open a new window and go to the site in question directly!