Beware of Amazon QR code scams
Beware of Amazon QR Code scams
A Houston woman wants to warn you after receiving a suspicious letter that looked like it was from Amazon. She spotted some big red flags. FOX 26 Houston's Consumer Reporter Heather Sullivan joins us with Smart Sense on what you need to watch out for.
HOUSTON - A Houston woman wants to warn you after receiving a suspicious letter that looked like it was from Amazon. She spotted some big red flags. Consumer Reporter Heather Sullivan has what you need to watch out for.
Amazon QR Code Scams
What we know:
Nikki Fant says she received a letter in the mail that looked like it was from Amazon, about a real purchase she had recently made.
The letter had a QR code and offered her a $20 gift card. But she noticed some things in the letter that didn't seem right.
"There were some typographical errors. I worked in printing before and most company letterheads usually will do a full bleed all the way to the edge of the page," Fant said, pointing out the masthead.
The letter says, "Thank you for purchasing a heatless hairculer," which Fant says she bought recently.
It says if she writes a 5-star review of the product, she can get a $20 Amazon gift card. All she has to do is scan the QR code on the letter. But she didn't scan it because she noticed more details that seemed off, including an Outlook email address rather than an Amazon email address, and blurry images.
"After I looked at it, I thought about my mom, my daughter and friends of mine. And I said this was one of my real purchases. If I wasn’t paying attention and I was eager to jump on and get something for free, I would have scanned the QR code and just kept on going," she said.
There are QR code scams going around that Amazon and investigators say customers should watch out for, such as unexpected packages arriving at people's homes with a QR code that leads to a fake website or downloads malware on the user's device, and steals their personal and financial information.
Amazon responds
What they're saying:
We asked Amazon about this letter, which tells us the letter did not come from them. An Amazon spokesperson sent us this statement:
"There’s no place for fraud in Amazon’s store. Our policies prohibit reviews abuse including offering incentives like gift cards to write positive reviews. We take action against those who violate these policies and remove inauthentic reviews."
The Source: Information in this article is from Nikki Fant, Amazon, and independent research from FOX 26 Houston's Consumer Reporter Heather Sullivan.