Is this a phishing email?

[Danja]

I’m usually highly adept at sniffing out phishers; however, this one has me stumped. It seems to originate from an Amazon-affiliated address and the the link it wants to send me to is also an Amazon.com/… address. Could anyone here weigh in on this?

amazon payments

Dear Danja:

To ensure compliance with federal law, Amazon Payments accountholders are required to provide a Tax Identification Number. You must provide this information before Monday, December 31st, 2012 to ensure your account activity is not interrupted.

Please visit https://payments.amazon.com to login and update your account. You will be guided through a short process to ensure that you provide the required information.

To help protect the security of your personal information, please do not disclose it by e-mail or over the phone.

Please note: To be an Amazon Payments accountholder, you must be a permanent U.S. resident or U.S. citizen.

For additional information see answers to frequently asked questions:

Welcome to Amazon Pay help | Amazon Pay Help

Important Notice: Information in this e-mail does not constitute tax, legal, or other professional advice. To find out how this new legislation will affect your business, or if you have other questions, please contact your tax, legal, or other professional advisor.

Best regards,
Amazon Payments
https://payments.amazon.com

Amazon Payments and the Amazon Payments logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Amazon Payments is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. Amazon.com, 410 Terry Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109-5210.

Please note that this message was sent to the following e-mail address:
Danja@MyUniversity.edu

The link they want to send me on is as follows: Online Payment Service | Amazon Pay

Is this email a scam, or is there actually some sort of new regulation they’re supposed to comply with?

edit: The email originates from store-news@amazon.com.

[cochrane]

If it doesn’t begin with “https://” I would be very hesitant to click on it as it may not be a secure address. It may indeed be a phishing scam.

Here’s Amazon’s page for identifying fraudulent emails.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=15362281

Here are the kinds of things Amazon won’t ask you.

Amazon will never ask you for the following information in an e-mail communication:

Your social security number or tax identification number
Your bank account information, credit card number, PIN number, or credit card security code (including “updates” to any of the above)
Your mother’s maiden name or other information to identify you (such as your birth city or your favorite pet’s name)
Your Amazon.com password

You should always go directly to Amazon’s website and log into your account there to review or make changes to your account instead of clicking on any link in an email if you are in doubt.

[Crazyhorse]

@cochrane

If it doesn’t begin with “https://” I would be very hesitant to click on it as it may not be a secure address. It may indeed be a phishing scam.

Got it

@cochrane

Here’s Amazon’s page for identifying fraudulent emails.

Amazon.com Help

But…you just said…

It appears to be legit in that it only directs you to real amazon.com addresses as indicated by the OP.

Here is information about the policy from the authentic Amazon website

IRS Reporting Regulations on Third-Party Payment Transactions

Beginning with the 2011 tax year, new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations require that U.S. third-party settlement organizations and payment processors, including Amazon Payments, file Form 1099-K to report unadjusted annual gross sales or payment volume information for customers that meet both of the following thresholds in a calendar year:

[ul]
[li]More than $20,000 in gross payment volume, and[/li][li]More than 200 transactions.[/li][/ul]
IMPORTANT NOTE: Even if your account does not meet the above criteria, Amazon Payments still requires you to provide tax identification information to Amazon Payments.
Providing Your Taxpayer Identification Information to Amazon Payments
All customers, regardless of payment volume, will be required by Amazon Payments to provide taxpayer identification information.

[ticker]

@cochrane

You should always go directly to Amazon’s website and log into your account there to review or make changes to your account instead of clicking on any link in an email if you are in doubt.

That’s good advice right there.