Did Your Amazon Account Get Hacked? Things To Do Immediately

Updated March 20, 2024 by Kyle James
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Most shoppers love Amazon. Hard not to with the free 2-day shipping, cool Prime perks, and competitive pricing. But with Amazon’s popularity comes growing security concerns as hackers try to crack the huge database of shoppers and their linked credit cards. If for some unforeseeable reason your Amazon account gets hacked, here are the 6 things you need to do right away…

Amazon Account Get Hacked? Things To Do Immediately

1. Immediately Change Your Amazon Password

Amazon password

If you think your Amazon account was hacked for ANY reason, the first thing you should do is immediately login to your account and change your password.

To make this happen just click on Accounts & Lists, followed by Your Account, then Login & Security.

Make your new password a string of random numbers and letters and not actual words.

Then write it down somewhere for safe keeping.

If you need help generating a strong password, I’m a big fan of StrongPasswordGenerator.com.

It would also be REALLY smart to change the password on the email account associated with your Amazon account.

In many cases this is how hackers gain access to your Amazon account if you’re signed up with Amazon’s 2-step verification system.

In other words, if they can get into your email account it becomes easy to also get into your Amazon account.

Important: DO NOT use the same password that you use on other popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

See Also: 6 Out-Of-The-Box Ways to Score Amazon Prime for Free or Cheap

2. Check Your Account Information

Account Info

Next, click around your Amazon account carefully and make sure nothing has been altered.

Check your linked credit cards (if any), billing address, shipping address, phone number, and email address.

If any information has been changed, be sure to note the change (with a screen capture) and then correct it.

At this point you should call Amazon’s security department at (888) 282-2406 and tell them that your account has been breached.

They’ll be able to provide further assistance and help you keep an eye on your account activity in the coming days.

3. Check Purchase History (Especially Archived Orders)

Archived Orders

Next, take a look at your Amazon order history and make sure you recognize all recent purchases.

Don’t forget to click on Archived Orders as often times hackers will “hide” fraudulent orders there.

You’ll find all of your archived orders in the “Ordering and Shopping Preferences” section of your Amazon account. See screenshot above.

See Also: Amazon Return Policy: No More Confusion, Here’s EXACTLY How It Works

4. Enable Amazon 2-Step Verification

Amazon 2-step Verification

By turning on 2-Step Authentication your Amazon account is much harder to hack into.

Essentially it requires a security code to be entered whenever you attempt to access your account from a new computer, smartphone, or tablet.

To authenticate, Amazon will simply shoot you a text message with a security code attached that you manually enter.

Very easy to do and definitely helps keep hackers out of your account.

5. Consider Un-Linking Credit Cards

Unlink Cards

Having your credit card(s) linked to your account makes ordering much easier. Believe me, I know.

But it also creates an easy way for hackers to make unauthorized purchases on those cards.

A simple workaround is to un-link all payment methods from your Amazon account.

Yes, you’ll have to enter your card info every time you make a purchase, BUT you won’t have to worry about someone hacking into your account and making a bunch of purchases.

6. Check all Credit Card Accounts

At this point it’s also smart to check all of your credit cards that are linked to your Amazon account.

Make sure none of them have any unauthorized purchases on them.

Bonus: 3 Ways to Protect Yourself From Future Attacks

1. Never Click on Phishy Emails

If you get a supposed email from Amazon about your account, but it just doesn’t look right, DO NOT click on any links within the email.

Also, check the email address of the sender. Often times these phishing emails will NOT be from an address ending with @amazon.com. Stay far away from those.

2. Don’t Access your Amazon Account Over Unsecured Network

In other words, try not to shop online when sipping a latte at Starbucks if you’re using their free WiFi.

3. Get Into Your Account if Hacker Changes Email Address

Well, in short, you CAN’T get into your Amazon account if this happens.

You’ll have to immediately call Amazon at (888) 280-4331 and they can remove the fraudulent email address and lock your account until the issue is resolved.

Ask the Reader: Has your Amazon account ever been hacked? How did the hacker get into your account and what damage was done?


By Kyle James

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Pat

my amazon account was hacked after my computer was hacked. amazon does not care. all of my credit card award points were used to by gift cards according to amazon order history. Amazon claim that my account was not hacked

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sam

Same here. I cancelled my account

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Angela

My stepdad just passed away after a year long battle with cancer. Upon checking his financial records closer it was discovered around $8900.00 was stole from him on amazon. They said since it had been over six months there’s nothing they can do. It’s sad how people have become. Steal from a dying individual and take the needed finances his widow could have used. I was under the impression that amazon was a totally secure site and protected those who were taken advantage of. At least that’s what my stepdad said to me years ago when I asked him if it’s a safe site. As long as amazon got its money , they don’t care about the widow left behind who at her age would certainly have many needed uses for it.

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Jimmy

Once a family member is sick especially terminal their finances should be checked with them/ for them while they are still alive. Never wait until they are gone or several months go by. It is never good to have any shopping type accounts online linked to credit/debit cards and not check them at a minimum once a week. It is sad but a good lesson for everyone/

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Nan

No Fraud Department. What? Really? And NO help from their Customer Service.

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Toad

BS! Just got hacked a day ago and it was taken care of easily via phone. I really wonder about all these so called comments of ZERO help etc…Most sounds sounds like simple Amazon hate nothing more and many sound like complete bull.

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linda

ummm, so far I have not had much help. They locked the account and said they would get back to me. That was 6 days ago and still no progress. I can not get into my account, can not use my amazon prime movies and can not alter alexa settings or get kindle books. This has been a bit of a nightmare. NO hate here and no BS either, just the truth.

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heck

My account was hacked a few days ago and I have really received ZERO help. They didnt even lock my account when they said they had. I have since completely cancelled amazon where I have been a prime member since 2006 and they give ZERO farts.

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Janeway

Not BS. My account was hacked a week ago, and I have already spoken to three different people at Amazon about it, and the problem has still not been fixed. So please don’t assume because you had an easy time everyone else should too. Amazon is certainly not infallible, and I agree completely that a company this large should be better equipped to help customers who find themselves in this situation.

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Dave Janeway

My account was hacked and Amazon did nothing to verify my identify – I can see how easily they are hacked. If my account ever comes back I’ll delete CC info for sure.

Nice last name. At first I was wondering if I was talking to myself.

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Elvis De La Cruz

What phone number did you use?

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Carolyn

My Amazon account was just hacked by Amazon allowing a stranger to create a new password; and from there, my identity was stolen. It is a far bigger problem than this article indicates. Amazon “help” (while kind and regretful people far, far away) was not. Anyone can have your email and pretend to be you. They asked me no security questions (not that it would have mattered, the hacker already had all my information). I made two calls and nothing happened other than a “report was generated” and yes, they said, it sure looked like I had been hacked. So sorry. By that time, I had already shut down my credit cards, email and all that was associated with Amazon because the person had already had charged on anything associated with that information, including Uber, Microsoft online and other things I am still working through. Amazon is not secure. I LOVED Amazon, so not a hater. There is no way I will ever put any personal information in their hands again until they work on security. I cancelled my Prime account and won’t be back in the near future. This also mixes shopping at Whole Foods. They have big problems, sadly.

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ama

**Important** Check your gift card section. They open credit accounts to get the free gift card associated and there is no other indication!

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JEKing

Well at least they cannot open credit accounts as I have frozen my credit.

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Jessica

Think I figured out how they have hackers. My debit card was hacked on this certain kind of beauty product offer but they sold the same beauty product on Amazon too.

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diana

I didn’t have my debit card on amazon but when bank called me it was there but not there was weird..and they had been using it

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John Carter

I live in France. 6 days ago someone from the USA added their home address to my account and has been ordering items. I contacted Amazon, deleted the suspect address and changed my password. This morning it is back on my account and had ordered more stuff. Still waiting for an explanation from Amazon. I have deleted all my credit cards with the account and changed to 2 step verification

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Sarah

Our Amazon Prime Account was hacked purchases were made in Canada and the UK. After speaking to someone at amazon.ca our account was credited for all the Canadian purchases. Our credit card company did an investigation and said it wasn’t the banks fault. We thought we were going to be out the money from the UK purchases. My husband called amazon.ca again and a person patched my husband through to amazon in the UK. All the monies were returned to the credit card my husband provided.

This was the second time our account was scammed and Amazon reimbursed us. It’s very time consuming getting everything straightened out.

We love Amazon Prime and will continue to use it but we don’t leave credit card numbers or personnel information on the site. We also have a two step login on our accounts.

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Bob S.

My Amazon account was hacked, and they changed the e-mail and password. I could not find any help except for a web page to ask for help. 12 hours later and I still have not received a reply. Where did you get the phone number?

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Elstro

(888) 282-2406 1 (888) 280-4331 Mine was hacked, too, and a Russian email address put in. If the first person you talk to blows you off and says and account specialist will get back to you in 24-48 hours, indicate how upset you are and ask to speak to a supervisor. I wasted 24 hours waiting for someone to get back to me and realized I had to rachet it up with customer support. As of now, I am waiting for a few hours before my restored email enables me to get in there and change my password again. I didn’t see any unauthorized charges to my account, but, weirdly, a few months before my email address was changed in the account, I had a couple of low-cost items delivered to my home address. This whole process seemed really funky, bu I really couldn’t tell if it was a scam.

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Steph G

Mine was hacked by someone in Russia also this last week. I called yesterday and they took care of it right away. I had an email saying it was restored last night and it said to wait a few hours before logging in to reset my password. I didn’t reset it yet and noticed this morning I had new emails about my email being changed so it was hacked again before I could change it. I called them again. I’m thinking it’s on them.

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Julie

My email address was changed and I cannot get in it was changed to a russian account.

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Nick Svoma

My email was changed tonight with a .ru domain as well. Been on the phone with “customer support” (in the Philippines) and am waiting for a third manager… Ridiculous they don’t have a working standard procedure in place for these such instances..

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Steve

Nick did your problem get resolved?

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Eric

These hackers often hack into your email account. Then when you are sent an email from Amazon (or Instagram or other sites) to change your password, they simply click on the link and change the password on your account. I noticed that they (Russians in my case) changed the password on my Instagram account within 5 minutes of me changing it with a very strong password. So the very first thing you need to do before any of the great suggestions and before changing your Amazon password is to change your email password to a strong password.

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dee

if they have your email account down,,why not just change the passwood there too though?

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Lee Ann Bryce

I am dealing with the second hack of my amazon account — The first time I saw that they changed my email address and I called amazon because I noticed a funny email address on the login screen to my account. They had updated my phone number and added +9 to it so I could not get the text authentication. They then attempted to purchase a cell phone which they shipped to my home address, it was charged to me and I returned it but had to wait for the refund.

This morning I had difficulty accessing my amazon account and tried to reset the password but the emails are not coming to my email address. I am now on hold with Amazon fraud to resolve.

It is not secure even with 2 step verification !!! I don’t use public WiFi or respond to pfishing emails.

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Ken

Agree. Just hacked yesterday/today. Have two step verification. Lots of codes and emails, including emails for “password assistance”.This is the third time for me.

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Ann wilson

They shipped the fraudulent purchase to me as well when my account was hacked. What’s that about?

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Stuart Blint

Amazon are awful… I too have been hacked, so far, touch wood, I have found all the purchases made and stopped all the funding sources PLUS arranged refunds via the funding sources (banks and credit cards) as for Amazon… well despite my 3 phone calls, 2 chat sessions (very pleasant – call centre chappies) I have never heard squat from Amazon.. the call centre guys assure me the correct “specialist” department will call me back in 24-48 hours… not a dicky bird, over a week since I was hacked, I was lucky ( I hope) and got on top of it… but Amazon, what a shower of sh1t!

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Jamie

I was hacked by a Russian domain too. They changed my email address to one that ended in .ru. I called Amazon, talked to someone who said Account Management would call me back in 24-48 hrs. I also replied back to the email from Amazon. After 3 days, I called back and they had no record of me calling. Nothing has gone through on my credit card account and no orders went out but there were 5 odd items in the Cart including drones. After my second call, they sent me an email explaining I could sign in via password change. I signed up for the 2 step verification. I will be blocking Amazon from my old credit card that was on my account and will not be saving any credit card info on there going forward. Very poor service not to do anything the first time we call. As you can see, that is there pattern for many of us with the same problem.

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Robin

We became aware that our Amazon account had been hijacked three days ago. I have called every day, spoken to associates who seem to feel there is nothing alarming about finding a foreign email attached to the now inaccessible Amazon account. Day one I’m assured that the account is frozen, credit cards removed, the investigative department is on the case. Day two, a different Russian email attached to the account and they purchased an app and an E ITunes gift card. Day three, another Russian email. Apparently we are the only folks that cannot gain access to our account.

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Heimdall

They hacked into my Amazon via my e-mail. Mid November 2018 I first spotted something.

I received an unknown Amazon order, so I thought first that someone else ordered it and had it delivered to my address for convenience. I decided also to check my Amazon account (just to be on the safe side) but I couldn’t log in. I hadn’t used it for a while so I thought I may have forgotten the password, or that something was amiss; I used the “Forgotten your password” feature. No e-mail arrived. I tried sending something else to the linked e-mail address; that message arrived. Tried forgotten password again, no e-mail.

The e-mail account was the sort where you pull messages off using POP3 (like with Thunderbird, and so you can read them offline). But you can also use it as webmail, so I logged into it. I found out that there were some messages from Amazon – but in the “Trash” folder.

I reported the fraud to Amazon and to my credit card provider, I also changed both my passwords (e-mail and Amazon) and removed the filter in my e-mail account that prevented me from getting messages from Amazon. Amazon told me they would refund the orders and revert all changes that the fraudsters may have made to my account. Problem solved… or was it?

A couple of days ago or so tI was searching on Amazon and it kept warning me about Prime whatever. First I thought the items I looked at were only available for Prime members and decided to abandon that particular search. But then I realized I was somehow a Prime member. Apparently my membership started in December, and I was just about to be charged for it. Another fraud? Looking back at my e-mail I found two unhelpful messages from “Prime” saying “Did you know you have an unused Prime benefit?” – No, I didn’t even know I was a Prime member until that day. I probably missed those two e-mails because the sender was “Prime”, not “Amazon”.

Amazon helpline let me know that I had already been charged in December (but not on the day, that’s why it wasn’t on my last credit card statement, but I saw it when I logged into the credit card account) and that it started in November. Bingo! The same fraudster subscribed me to Prime! So much about reverting the account!

The helpline stopped my membership and refunded the Prime charge. I wanted an assurance that I would be able to have a free 30-day trial of Prime in the future if I decide I do want to try it. I was told “As you have already used Prime free trial you are not eligible”. I have not used it. I didn’t even know I had it. I didn’t subscribe to it, nor confirm any agreeing to its Ts&Cs. They did, however, promise that I could subscribe to Prime and pay but they would then refund that month’s fee. So in other words, reverting that fraudster’s actions in November wasn’t as promissed, but at least the refund promise means that I can (if I want) effectively have that free trial of Prime. I just hope they won’t back out of it if I do decide I’d like to try it. I kept the record of the conversation…

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Not Telling you

Its starts with an email to customer service. If you write to them you get hacked if you’re complaining about customer service.

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LadyPseudo

I was just hacked this weekend. It was Amazon, my email, and Playstation Network. Whomever did it, strangely didn’t order anything, but they did try to leave a megaton of reviews on Amazon, which were all made null when Amazon gave me my account back. They also tried to get PSN codes while on my PSN account, because they left the chat behind instead of closing it when they were done. PSN gave me my account back without issue, Amazon made me wait a few days. Whomever did it, apparently had access to my email, as well, which has also been rectified. But they first were able to attempt to send an email to an address that no longer existed, and tried to sign up to TeamViewer with my email address AFTER I enabled 2 factor authentication on it. I am now attaching my phone number to get text codes AND using 2 factor authentication on pretty much everything I do online, now.

Not sure what they hoped to accomplish, I have a grand total of 38 cents in the bank, and my bank won’t let purchases go through if the money isn’t there to cover it.

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Not Telling you

Its just a malicious attack.

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Bradley R Erlwein

My account was just hacked, I believe via an email. The password and the end point for the 2-step appear to have been compromised. Small unordered packages started showing up yesterday (a pack of bic pens), as did online items (e.g., games, etc.). Amazon has been totally USELESS. Most of the people I talk with struggle with getting past repeating the spelling of my name. There is totally NOBODY HOME when attempting to describe anything of substance to them. I have canceled the credit cards, and will do no more business with Amazon.

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