AARP Hearing Center
New Scam: Fake Recall Notices
Criminals are impersonating retailers like Amazon and sending bogus recall alerts to steal customers’ money or personal information
AARP (Getty Images, 3)
About Recall Scams
1. Signs to watch for
- You receive a message from a retailer notifying you of a product recall, but the alert doesn’t specify the product.
- The notice will urge immediate action and include a link or phone number to call right away.
2. How to protect yourself
- Don’t click links in messages from anyone outside your trusted contact list. Check with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) at cpsc.gov/recalls or the retailer for legitimate recalls.
3. Get help
- Call the free AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360 to speak with trained specialists who can offer support and guidance.
When Ariel Reid’s 65-year-old mother purchased an air fryer online from Amazon this summer, she was excited to use it with her grandchildren. Maybe they’d make french fries together when the kids came over to swim at her Florida home, she thought. But her excitement turned to worry when she received a text message that she assumed was regarding her new air fryer.
It noted that her recent order had failed a safety review, posed a fire risk and was being recalled by the manufacturer. “It included an order number, instructed her to stop using it immediately and said to ‘tap here’ for a refund,” says Reid. "That made her nervous, so the first thing she did — which was the right thing to do — was unplug the air fryer.”
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She then sent the text to Reid, who noticed a key sign that it was a recall scam. “The text never actually said ‘air fryer.’ It said ‘a product from your recent order,’ ” says Reid, vice president of customer experience at GCH Technologies, which provides text messaging security solutions to the telecommunications industry. (She received her mother’s permission to share her story with AARP.)
The criminals who sent the fake recall notice didn’t know Reid’s mom had bought an air fryer on Amazon. They were simply wagering that she had recently purchased something from the retailer that might reasonably pose a fire risk — because millions of consumers do so every day.
How recall scams work
Most fake recalls share the same basic anatomy, says Amy Nofziger, senior director of fraud victim support for the AARP Fraud Watch Network.
- The consumer receives an urgent email or text message from a trusted brand or retailer informing them that the manufacturer of a product they recently purchased — or perhaps even a vehicle they drive — has issued a critical safety recall.
- The message requests immediate action and instructs the consumer to click a link to get more information, review their order, schedule a repair or claim a refund.
- If they click the link, the consumer then finds themselves at a bogus website (although, with today’s tech tools, it won’t be immediately obvious that it’s fake). The next step will involve requests for their personal information, login credentials or credit card information — all of which is extremely valuable to criminals. Depending on the information they steal, they can make fraudulent purchases, access the consumer’s bank account or steal their identity.
Recall scams tend to peak during shopping seasons; that’s when the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline sees a spike in callers reporting them.
There was a surge of calls in early summer, for instance, when “a lot of people are buying new grills, outdoor equipment and other summer things — and scammers know that,” says Nofziger, who expects to see another influx of recall scam reports around the holidays.
And it’s no surprise that Amazon is the company most often impersonated, says Patrick Coughlin, cofounder and CEO of Savi Security, a cybersecurity company that offers Scamwise, a free online scam-detection tool. Ninety percent of the recall scams consumers have reported to Savi use the name of the massive retailer.
“We will occasionally see a Walmart, a Costco or a Best Buy, but Amazon is at the top of the list,” says Coughlin. Criminals know that “people are buying from Amazon every single day.”
Amazon is well aware that it’s a target. In fact, it says 360,000 customers contact its customer service department every year to ask, “Is this message from Amazon real?”
The company launched a new scam-detection tool via Alexa for Shopping that can immediately tell you if a message is really from Amazon. Just describe when you received it and what it is regarding. (Read our story about the tool.) You can receive a similar assessment by emailing verify@amazon.com.
How to spot fake recalls
When you receive a recall notice by text or email, look for the following red flags, says Chris Harvey, senior vice president of product innovation and industry engagement at Sedgwick, which manages product recalls for brands:
- Vague language: Fake recall alerts usually don’t mention a specific product because criminals don’t know what you’ve actually purchased.
- Urgency: The point of recalls is to minimize injuries and property damage from defective products, so a legitimate recall notice may instruct you to stop using the product immediately but won’t request any other urgent action.
- Unusual communication channels: Manufacturers typically issue recall notices by email or mail. Text messages in the recall sector are rare.
- Requests for personal information or payment: A legitimate recall will never ask for your login credentials, Social Security number, banking details or credit card information. Nor will a legit recall notice ask for payment or processing fees.
How to confirm the legitimacy of a recall
Criminals are likely counting on the fact that most consumers don’t get many recall notices, so they aren’t sure what a genuine one looks like, says Reid. She explains that real product recalls always include the name of the recalled item, specific model numbers and detailed instructions on what to do with the recalled product.
If you receive a recall notice for a specific item, you can verify its validity with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) at cpsc.gov/recalls or the retailer. Amazon, for example, lists any recalled products from your purchase history at amazon.com/your-product-safety-alerts.
If you are targeted in a recall scam
Notify the retailer. If it’s an Amazon-impersonation scam, email the information to reportascam@amazon.com. If you receive a fake recall notice by text, report it to your phone carrier by clicking “Report Spam” inside the appropriate text-message thread.
Report online scams to your local police and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov.
Get help. Call the free AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360 to speak with trained specialists who can offer support and guidance.
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