- August 19, 2026
- By admin
- Scams & Safety
Scammers do not target careless sellers. They target busy ones, at the exact moment a real problem would be most frightening: a listing suppression, a policy warning, a trademark filing. Every scam below relies on urgency plus a channel Amazon does not actually use.
The fake “account health” call
Someone calls, knows your store name and a recent order, and says your account is at risk unless you verify information now. Amazon does not cold-call sellers to demand credentials, one-time codes or payment. Hang up and open Seller Central yourself. A real issue is always visible in Account Health — never only on a phone call.
Phishing emails that look like Performance Notifications
Correct logo, correct tone, wrong destination. Check the actual link target, not the display text. The rule that never fails: never click through — navigate to Seller Central yourself and read the notification there. If it does not exist in your account, it does not exist.
Trademark and brand registry invoices
Official-looking bills for “trademark monitoring”, “registry renewal” or directory listings, often priced just low enough that a bookkeeper pays them without asking. Legitimate trademark correspondence in the US comes from the USPTO or your own attorney of record.
Review and ranking services
Anyone offering guaranteed reviews, verified-purchase reviews or ranking manipulation is selling you a suspension with a delivery date. The service takes payment; you take the enforcement.
“Reinstatement specialists” who need account access
Real help writes plans of action with you. It does not need your login, and it does not promise reinstatement — nobody can.
Supplier and freight fraud
New supplier, urgent wire, changed bank details mid-relationship. Verify a changed account by calling a number you already had, not one in the email. This one costs more per incident than everything else on this list.
One rule covers all of it: never act inside the message. Close it, go to Seller Central or call your known contact, and confirm from your side. Urgency is the tell.
Reduce the blast radius
- Two-factor authentication on Seller Central, your email and your bank — app-based, not SMS.
- Separate user permissions per employee; no shared logins.
- Review deposit and bank settings on a schedule, not only when something looks wrong.
- Keep a written escalation rule: no payment or credential ever changes on an inbound contact.
The full list, with the exact wording these messages use, is on our free Amazon Seller Scams page. The account-health and documentation checklists that keep you defensible are in the Amazon Seller’s Pocket Guide.
Working documents for the ones worth checking
Ignoring noise is half of it. The other half is having a process for the offers that are not obviously junk:
- Forty-Question Due-Diligence Workbook — the questions an automation or agency pitch has to survive.
- Red-Flag Field Guide — a faster first pass when you only want to know whether to keep reading.
- Complete Due-Diligence Kit — both, plus the compliance documents.
More detail in Amazon seller scams to watch out for and in Why Not to Sell on Amazon. Vetted tools, with who should skip each, in the partner directory.
Disclosure: tool links below are affiliate links. If you buy through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Nobody paid for placement or for a kinder write-up.
Both books, no sales call
The fee math, the sourcing checklists and the exit plan — from sixteen years of running and fixing Amazon accounts.
Amazon Seller’s Pocket GuideWhy Not to Sell on AmazonBefore you pay anyone to run your account: Is Amazon FBA a scam? The pitches and the FTC cases