# Amazon “Payment declined” - is this a scam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 23, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-payment-declined-is-this-a-scam/831423 "2019-03-23T19:15:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-payment-declined-is-this-a-scam/831423/1 "2019-03-23T19:15:33Z")
I placed an order yesterday and today got an email in which the subject and message were both “Payment declined” and nothing more. No links or instructions. So I checked Amazon and they say it shipped, and UPS says it is in route, and my bank says the payment cleared my account. Is this a scam? How? There are various scams described online but all involve further instructions like clicking on a link. How does somebody cheat me just by sending the email? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2019, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-payment-declined-is-this-a-scam/831423/2 "2019-03-23T19:34:10Z")
They didn’t finish the rest of the spell. I see this a lot - the setup for a really awesome scam email, and then, nothing… I suspect that they are using a script to generate the body of the email, and since these are “script kiddies,” their QC is pretty shoddy. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-payment-declined-is-this-a-scam/831423/3 "2019-03-23T19:52:58Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > I placed an order yesterday and today got an email in which the subject and message were both “Payment declined” and nothing more. No links or instructions. So I checked Amazon and they say it shipped, and UPS says it is in route, and my bank says the payment cleared my account. Is this a scam? How? There are various scams described online but all involve further instructions like clicking on a link. How does somebody cheat me just by sending the email? Report it to Amazon and check your system for malware. It’s probably coincidence, but just maybe it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-payment-declined-is-this-a-scam/831423/4 "2019-03-23T20:19:55Z")
Did the email claim it was from Amazon? What made you think it was related? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-payment-declined-is-this-a-scam/831423/5 "2019-03-23T20:30:16Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Did the email claim it was from Amazon? What made you think it was related? Yes. The sender was just “Amazon”. I didn’t click around for more details because I have a pretty hazy understanding of exactly how much I can do with a scam email without incurring damage. But there was no further detail. In fact I guess I don’t know if yesterday’s purchase actually triggered it. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-payment-declined-is-this-a-scam/831423/6 "2019-03-24T00:38:59Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Yes. The sender was just “Amazon”. No, just “Amazon” isn’t a valid email address that could be delivered via the Internet. If you mean the ‘From:’ line just said “Amazon”, that line is about as secure as the return address written on an envelope – anybody can write anything there. You have to look at the routing details of the email to see where it actually came from. But it’s not worth the effort. Just delete it and get on with your life. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2019, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-payment-declined-is-this-a-scam/831423/7 "2019-03-24T07:55:02Z")
Amazon “Payment declined” - is this a scam? In a word, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-payment-declined-is-this-a-scam/831423/8 "2019-03-24T19:38:32Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > They didn’t finish the rest of the spell. > I see this a lot - the setup for a really awesome scam email, and then, nothing… > > I suspect that they are using a script to generate the body of the email, and since these are “script kiddies,” their QC is pretty shoddy. Probably this. If you _hadn’t_ bought anything from Amazon, you’d know it was a scam; however, since you (& lots of other people) did buy something from Amazon yesterday; if there had been something there, you (or one of the many other folks) would have clicked on the link & then… [ul] [li]installed malware[/li][li]followed the link to a fake login page & given your credentials to an ‘evil doer’[/li][li]something else nefarious[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-payment-declined-is-this-a-scam/831423/9 "2019-03-24T21:23:30Z")
My standard response to emails like that one is to hit “Block.” That shows me the originating address, without all the spoofing. It is inevitably from someone other than Amazon, and off it goes into the cornfield without being opened, read, or otherwise engaged. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2019, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-payment-declined-is-this-a-scam/831423/10 "2019-03-25T08:41:57Z")
Scam. I get them for all the most popular online services, whether I have them or not - panicked e-mails about my hacked Facebook page, my compromised Paypal account (inactive for over a decade), etc. I ignore them, but I worry about my less tech-savvy relatives because I have gotten frightened calls about someone using their eBay account. “You’re not on eBay.” “But someone impersonating me _must_ be, because I got this e-mail! We have to straighten this out!”