Amazon 'Missed Delivery' Email Is A Scam

DENVER (CBS4) - With all the packages delivered between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the holiday season is a prime time for scammers.

One of the newest tricks is a "missed delivery" email notice appearing to have been sent by online retail giant Amazon.com.

"It's the classic phishing scam where you are being socially engineered," Amit Serper, a principal security researcher at computer security company Cybereason, told CBS News. "They are getting better at making the fake websites look better. Some of them buy actual domain names that are similar. They can get Amazon with a zero instead of the "O," and it looks legit."

Even if you've not ordered anything from Amazon, it's possible that you could fall for it by thinking something was ordered for you and you're receiving a notice as a result.

So how do you know if it's an actual email from Amazon?

First, check the sender's email address.

If it's anything other than from @amazon.com, it's likely to be a fake.

Second, before clicking on anything in the email, independently go to their website and check the status of any orders you may have placed.

If there's an issue with your order, then contact Amazon.com through their website.

"Double- and triple-check anything," Serper said. "Don't click the link inside the email. Go to Amazon and try to check your order status from there" if you receive an email that says a problem occurred.

The Federal Trade Commission, who is aware of the scam, said that scam emails often include viruses or malware, which can attack your computer when clicked on and give scammers access to your personal or financial information.

Amazon.com also has a section on their site about how to identify if an email is from Amazon.