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Amazon customer support representatives this weekend have been dealing with a wave of inquiries from customers who acquired suspicious and complicated email confirmations about gift card purchases they had not made.
Customers on social media mentioned they had been despatched three consecutive emails, some Saturday evening and others Sunday morning, thanking them for their purchases of Google Play, Mastercard and Hotels.com gift cards, regardless of by no means having purchased them.
An Amazon customer support consultant mentioned that the corporate is wanting into the reason for the defective emails, however that accounts are protected and customers can ignore the messages.
“Dear Amazon buyer,” one of many emails learn. “Thank you for buying Google Play gift cards from Amazon.com.”
The Amazon emails additionally contained a warning towards gift card scams: “There are a wide range of scams wherein fraudsters attempt to trick others into paying with gift cards from well-known manufacturers.”
Part of one of many emails that was despatched to numerous Amazon customers over the weekend, falsely confirming gift card purchases that had not been made.
Photo courtesy of Dan Mangan.
The messages left customers puzzled and alarmed {that a} hacker could have obtained entry to their monetary info and acquired these gift cards.
“Thanks for the early AM coronary heart assault Amazon. Who wants caffeine?” one person wrote in a Facebook publish after receiving the defective emails.
One Amazon customer support consultant on Sunday morning mentioned the corporate acquired three calls in a row in regards to the email situation. The automated customer support bot mentioned that there have been “longer than regular wait occasions” within the cellphone queue.
“So far, we have no additional info regarding the message, however relaxation assured that we’re engaged on attending to the trigger,” mentioned one other customer support consultant. “I’m actually sorry to all these customers who acquired this type of email and that this triggered them alarm. But relaxation assured that each account right here is protected and within the meantime, we are able to simply inform them to simply disregard the message.”
One Reddit person mentioned that an Amazon consultant defined the mishap as “poorly worded emails supposed to warn customers about potential scams.”
A spokesperson for Amazon did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed reporting.