Business Impersonation
Scammers impersonate trusted companies — Amazon, PayPal, banks, delivery services — and contact you about a supposed problem. The goal is to get you on the phone, onto a fake website, or in front of your computer so they can steal credentials or drain your accounts.
How it worksThe anatomy of the scam
Every case follows roughly the same playbook. Recognize the pattern, stop it early.
1. The notification
'Your Amazon order for $800 has shipped' or 'Package could not be delivered, click here to reschedule.'
2. You call or click
A real-looking phone number or a convincing clone site.
3. The 'refund' or reschedule fee
They ask for remote access or a small fee to resolve the issue.
4. The drain
Credentials harvested, accounts drained, or ongoing subscription scams started.
Warning signsRed flags to watch for
If you're seeing two or more of these, assume it's a scam until proven otherwise.
You didn't place the order
If you can't remember it, it probably doesn't exist.
Contacted via SMS
Real companies rarely send transactional SMS with links.
Asked for remote access
No legitimate refund needs AnyDesk installed.
Protect yourselfDo this. Not that.
✓ Do
Open the official app directly instead of tapping links in texts or emails.
✗ Don't
Don't click refund links in unsolicited texts.
✓ Do
Call the number on the back of your card, not the number in the message.
✗ Don't
Don't install remote-access software to process a refund.
RelatedIf this happened to you, also check
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