Watch out! Clever Amazon delivery scam spreading all over the country

October 5, 2017

By Mark Jones

Scammers are always targeting the most popular websites to find new victims. It makes sense if you think about it, the more users a site has the more potential victims there are.Heavy traffic sites are constantly being targeted with the likes of phishing scams, and ransomware attacks. Now, Amazon customers are being hit with a new, devious ploy to rip them off. You really need to watch out for this one, it’s extremely tricky.Don’t forget to share this article with family and friends so they know what’s going on as well.

Watch out for this tricky Amazon delivery scam

We’re talking about a delivery scam that is designed to outsmart Amazon’s sophisticated tracking system. Here’s how it works:Customers who order items on Amazon are given a tracking number. This number allows the buyer to follow progress of delivery online.What’s happening now is certain third-party sellers on Amazon are scamming customers by shipping their packages to the wrong address. Most of the time, the packages don’t even contain the item that was purchased.When the empty package shows up at the different address, someone who is in on the scam signs for it. Once this process is complete, Amazon’s records show that the victim’s package was safely delivered and it even has signature confirmation. Because of these confirmations, Amazon is reportedly denying some victims’ claims that they’ve been ripped off.Dave Polanco was a recent victim of this exact scam. He purchased a camera from an Amazon third-party seller and began tracking his package online. Polanco said he knew something was wrong when he received a delivery confirmation but had yet to receive the package.His Amazon account only stated that the package had been successfully delivered to Pleasanton, CA, the city he lives in. He decided to call FedEx to investigate and was told, “No, this was never addressed to your address. It was delivered to a corporate address and was handed directly to a receptionist.”https://youtu.be/ko_S_STD2AMPolanco isn’t the only person who has been ripped off by this scam. Other Amazon customers across the country have filed similar complaints about third-party sellers that are sending packages to the wrong address in the correct city.Is it possible that Amazon only verifies that a package was delivered to the correct city and was signed for by someone, anyone, regardless of who it is? It certainly seems to be the case.

How to avoid this clever Amazon delivery scam

It appears that the best way to avoid this scam is to not purchase items from third-party sellers. Which is probably something you should already be avoiding since there has been an ongoing counterfeit product issue with third-party merchants for some time now.If you don’t know who is selling an item on Amazon that you’re interested in, here is how to tell. These are the three ways that Amazon fulfills orders:

1. Amazon Direct – products are sold and shipped by Amazon.
2. Amazon Fulfillment – items are provided to Amazon by a third-party. They are then warehoused and shipped by Amazon. These are safe to purchase since Amazon is the shipping party.
3. Amazon Marketplace – products are sold and shipped directly from third-party sellers. These are the ones to avoid since items are shipped by the third-party merchant.

If you, or someone you know, have been scammed by an Amazon seller, you need to report it immediately. You can file an A-to-Z guarantee claim in the Orders section of Your Account. Here’s how:

• Go to Your Orders on Amazon.com and click File/View Claim
• Select a reason code to describe your issue and select Request refund through A-to-Z Guarantee
• Enter the required information and select Submit

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