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HERSHEY, Pa. — An Amazon recall notice is sent to you via text. The message claims that an item you ordered back in February is under a recall and how to get a full refund. Of course, all you have to do is click this link.
Please, please, please don’t do that! This is a scam.
Scammers know so many people use Amazon, and there’s a good chance you DID buy something off the website several months ago, probably forgetting about what it was when you open this text.
But Amazon isn’t going to send a text to you and 18 other people about the product. This is an attempted “phishing” scam, where scammers send emails or text messages claiming to be from a reputable company in order to get the recipient to reveal personal information like their password or their credit card number.
Instead of clicking the link and falling for a phishing scam, here’s what you should do:
Log into your Amazon account and under “ordering and shopping.” You’ll see a link for “recalls and product safety alerts.”
If you click that, you can see if there are any products or safety alerts in your order history.
Amazon hasn’t always been the best about letting people know about recalled products sold on its site. Just last year, The Consumer Product Safety Commission determined Amazon is considered as a “distributor,” so it is responsible and must recall unsafe products sold even by third-party sellers on the website. The CPSC said those third-party sellers account for more than half of the platform’s sales.
If you don’t trust Amazon or any other company to let you know about recalls, you can sign up for alerts with federal agencies that issue the recall alerts here.
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