What to know if you got this “gift” email from Amazon
On Tuesday afternoon, Amazon sent out an email to a good number of Amazon customers letting them know that someone had purchased an item on their baby registries. The only problem? Most of these people hadn’t set up baby registries, nor were they expecting.
“Does Amazon know something that I don’t?” one Twitter user, Olivia Nuzzi, joked.
If you received a similar email, here’s what you need to know about the great Amazon baby registry email debacle of 2017.
It Wasn’t A Phishing Email
Amazon’s baby registry email read “Your gift is on its way,” and was sent by no-reply@amazon.com, an address whose domain reportedly belongs to Amazon, according to tech journalist Arik Hesseldahl. That means the email wasn’t an attempt by malicious individuals to masquerade as Amazon and steal your information.
Here’s what the email looked like, courtesy of a tweet:
Uh @amazon is this you or a phishing attempt? I don't have a baby registry anywhere. pic.twitter.com/nRrdnvoVxq
— sarah kelly (@thesarahkelly) September 19, 2017
It Was Due To A Technical Glitch
On Tuesday, the company clarified that the erroneous email was caused to a technical glitch. According to Reuters, Amazon didn’t say how many customers were affected by the glitch or exactly what lay behind the technical error—but the company said it would be contacting any customers affected by the glitch.
As Twitter users noted, that means you don’t have to worry about any sensitive info getting into the wrong hands:
UPDATE! @amazon says the baby registry email was a technical glitch, NOT phishing https://t.co/Nir7U8C8NW pic.twitter.com/VdyIiz4xJU
— Doree Shafrir (@doree) September 20, 2017
Do You Need To Do Anything To Protect Yourself?
No. Since this was a technical glitch that simply sent out an email to some customers, you shouldn’t have to do anything to protect your Amazon information. However, in the future, if you receive an email that seems fishy—or rather, phishy—here are some good general rules to follow:
- Don’t click any links contained in the email.
- Don’t open any attachments included with the email.
- Carefully scrutinize the email address, as well as the message contents. Even if the address looks familiar, would that person send you an email like that? If not, phone them and make sure it’s from them.
Unfortunately, Amazon will not be sending gifts to people who received the gift registry email. But at least the email worked as a good reminder for many to brush up on how to avoid email phishing in the future!