Greg's Corner

Amazon job scams plague social media

By Greg Collier

Trend Micro is a company that sells suites of security software to both corporations and individuals. This is neither an advertisement nor an endorsement of Trend Micro’s products. However, they recently posted on their blog about a job scam that’s circulating on social media that involves retail giant Amazon.

According to Trend Micro, scammers are taking to social media posing as former Amazon employees. Much like the fake jewelry discount scam we recently profiled, the scammers are promising secret ways for people to make money with Amazon.

The scammers’ posts claim anyone can make $1500 a month by becoming a product tester for Amazon. The reader is then directed to go to one of several phony websites. Once someone arrives at one of those websites, they’re taken to a survey where they’re told they can claim a gift after completing it.

Typically, with scams like this, the scammers are after two things, your personal information and your payment information. We’ve seen survey scams like this before, but not one disguised as a job offer. At the end of the survey, the applicant is asked to enter their mailing info to get their free gift, but the applicant has to pay for the shipping. That’s when the scammers obtain someone’s payment information along with their name and address. Under the guise of a job offer, scammers could get a lot more information from victims as well, such as their Social Security number.

The main problem with this scam is that testing products for Amazon is a legitimate program. However, real Amazon testers do not get paid. Under the Amazon Vine program, reviewers can receive free products to give their feedback about, but the program is invite-only.

As with any online job posting, research the posting before applying. If you find a listing on social media that sounds too good to be true, go to the company’s website to see if such a job is actually being offered.