Mirror Online has spotted a worrying email that’s landing in inboxes and you’d be wise to delete it now.
It appears that a new scam is doing the rounds and falling for it could leave you seriously out of pocket. Mirror Online spotted the new threat when checking our personal email inbox and it’s easy to see how some could be duped. The attack starts with a simple message that suggests you have won a Mystery Amazon Box. “You are our winner!” the email exclaims.
A button is then highlighted which asks you to “Click here to claim.” We were obviously suspicious but to see how the scam works we tapped the bright orange sign and continued. Once pressed, you are then taken to an official-looking Amazon page where you are asked to take part in a short survey. After clicking through 8 simple questions about the popular online retailer – including “How easy is it to find products you are looking for on Amazon?” – it’s then time to claim your prize.
Once we’d completed our survey we were told we had won a massive box of goodies worth £499.99. An enticing picture also features a box filled with iPhones, Echo speakers and tablets but you are never told exactly what you have won.
“Amazon Mystery Box is a listing of products where the specific contents of the box are unknown to the buyer until they receive it,” the on-screen message explained.
“These boxes can contain a variety of items, and the element of surprise is part of the appeal for some buyers.”
Next, you need to claim your reward and this is where things could get scary and very expensive. Of course, to send out the Mystery Amazon Box, your address is needed with a form popping up asking for personal information including postcode, street and full name.
We filled this in using a fake identity to see what would happen next.
Once your address is inputted, another screen pops up asking for a £10.98 payment for delivery. This is followed by the option to add your card details including CVV number and expiry date.
At this point we stopped handing over any more information as there are some serious red flags when trying to claim the prize. Spelling mistakes were everywhere within the message, Amazon does not hand out mystery boxes and even if you did win a prize from the firm they wouldn’t ask for personal banking details.
Of course, those who are duped are unlikely to ever see a Mystery Box arriving on the doorstep and the details that have been inputted could be used to steal money.
“Spoof or phishing emails are fraudulent emails attempting to get your personal information. They are generally made to look like they are coming from Amazon,” the online retailer explained.
“Amazon will never ask for personal information to be supplied by e-mail. Amazon will never request to update payment information that is not linked to an Amazon order you placed or an Amazon service you subscribed to.”
If you get any messages claiming you’ve won a prize and you don’t remember entering a competition then the best idea is to delete the message immediately.