- Amazon customers took to social media over the weekend to report a series of false email confirmations they received from the company about gift card purchases they didn’t make.
- Amazon Customer Service has received a flurry of calls from customers concerned that their accounts may have been hacked.
- A representative said the company is looking into the cause of the errant emails, but that the accounts are secure and customers can ignore the messages.
Sheldon Cooper | Rocket Lite | Getty Images
Amazon customer service representatives this weekend dealt with a wave of inquiries from customers who received suspicious and confusing email confirmations about gift card purchases they didn’t make.
customers on Social media They said they received three consecutive emails, some on Saturday night and others on Sunday morning, thanking them for their purchases of Google Play, Mastercard and Hotels.com gift cards, even though they had never purchased them.
An Amazon customer service representative said the company is looking into the cause of the errant emails, but that the accounts are secure and customers can ignore the messages.
“Dear Amazon Customer,” one email read. “Thank you for purchasing Google Play Gift Cards from Amazon.com.”
Amazon’s emails also contain a warning about gift card scams: “There are a variety of scams in which scammers attempt to trick others into paying with gift cards from well-known brands.”
Part of one of the emails sent to a number of Amazon customers over the weekend, falsely confirming gift card purchases that had not been made.
Photo courtesy of Dan Mangan.
The messages left customers confused and concerned that a hacker might have accessed their financial information and purchased these gift cards.
“Thanks for the early heart attack Amazon. Who needs caffeine?” one user wrote in a Facebook post after receiving the wrong emails.
An Amazon customer service representative said Sunday morning that the company received three consecutive calls about the email issue. The automated customer service bot said there were “longer than usual wait times” in the phone queue.
Another customer service representative said: “As of now, we do not have any additional information regarding the message, but rest assured that we are working to find out the cause.” “I’m truly sorry to all the customers who received this type of email and that this caused them concern. But rest assured that every account here is secure and in the meantime, we can just tell them to ignore the message.”
One Reddit user said that an Amazon representative explained the incident as “poorly worded emails intended to warn customers of potential scams.”
An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed reporting.
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