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It can be extremely distressing to wake up one day and find out that you can’t access your Amazon account.
If you’re unable to do so, there’s a chance that your account may have been hacked.
This can have extremely dire consequences as the hacker may use your funds to buy items for themselves and they may even be able to access your bank account details.
Quick Summary
In this post, we’ll go over:
- How you can tell if your Amazon account has been hacked.
- What to do in case you are unable to access your Amazon account.
- What to do in case you can still access your Amazon account but feel that other people may have access to it as well.
If you feel that your account has been hacked, it’s important to act quickly because the more you wait, the fewer chances you have of recovering your account.
So without further ado, let’s get into it.
How to Tell if Your Amazon Account has been Hacked?
The great thing about Amazon is that it has applied many security measures to detect unusual activity within its user accounts.
For example, whenever you sign in to your Amazon account, Amazon takes note of your location and logs it. If you live in the US and sign in from your home regularly and all of a sudden, your account is now being accessed from some location in Germany, Amazon will inform you of this through email.
If you actually are in Germany, you can confirm this but if you aren’t, this is the first red flag which can mean that your account is being accessed by someone else.
The second red flag can, of course, be search history within your account that you don’t remember.
If you suspect that your account is being accessed by someone else, it’s a good idea to check your browsing history.
You can check your browsing history by clicking on Your Account in the top-right and then, clicking on Browsing History as shown:
Finally, the third red flag can be if any of your personal or account details change without your knowledge.
It’s a good idea to keep a check on the personal and account details within your Amazon account to ensure they are all still what you originally wrote.
If your email address, shipping address, or anything else changes without your knowledge, your account has definitely been hacked.
Even if you don’t suspect that your account is hacked, it’s a good idea to be alert for any suspicious or unusual activity on your account.
If you come across searches that you don’t remember making or any subscription you don’t remember subscribing to, it’s a good idea to go through the measures that we’ve described in the third section of this post (What to do if your account has been hacked but you still have access to it).
I have been Locked out of My Amazon Account, What do I do?
There’s a high chance that you may not have access to your desktop or phone when your Amazon account is hacked; You may be sleeping or at work or outside, etc.
This would give the hacker a lot of time to change your Amazon password and lock you out of your own account.
While this may seem very distressing, there’s no need to worry. You can easily regain access to your account through two ways:
1. Using Forgot Password
The Forgot Password feature is present on many websites and is originally meant for people that have, well, forgotten their password.
However, it can also be used to gain back access to your account that you have been locked out of by a hacker.
Step 1: Go to the login page on Amazon and click on “Need help?” as shown:
Step 2: This will reveal a drop-down menu. Click on “Forgot Password” as shown:
Step 3: Enter your email address or phone number and click Continue as shown:
Step 4: A one-time password (OTP) will be sent to your email address or phone number depending on which one you provided. Enter it into the field and click Continue.
Step 5: You may be asked a security question here to confirm that you’re really you. Answer it and click Continue.
Step 6: You will now be asked to create a new password. Enter it in the two fields provided and click Save changes and sign in.
Important note: It’s important that you make a complex password with a mix of upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters. If your new password is simple, there’s a chance your account may get hacked again in no time. Also, never use the same password that you had before because the hacker could use it to gain access to your account again.
2. Contacting Amazon Support
As you may have already realized, the approach given above has a fatal flaw: It won’t work if the hacker has removed your email address and phone number from your account details.
If this has happened, you won’t be able to receive the OTP which is needed to change your password through the approach given above.
In this case, you have no other choice but to contact Amazon customer support. If your Amazon Seller account has been hacked, then you can contact seller support as well.
3. Contacting Amazon through Bot Chat
Step 1: Go to Amazon’s Contact Us page and click on “Start chatting now”.
Step 2: Type “I cannot access my account” and then, hit Enter. You will be given a few options by the bot. Select “Check my login & security information”.
4. Contacting Amazon through their Callback Feature
Step 1: Instead of clicking on “Start chatting now” on the Contact Us page, click on the “We can call you” hyperlink below it as shown:
Step 2: Click on the “Prime and more” tab and under the section that says “Tell us more about your issue”, select “Update account information” from the first drop-down menu and “Other account updates” from the second drop-down menu as shown:
Step 3: Scroll down to the section that says “Or, talk to someone” click on the Phone button as shown:
Step 4: Select your country from the dropdown menu and enter your phone number in the field below it as shown. After that, click on the “Call me now” button as shown:
You will receive a call on your entered phone number from an Amazon representative and they will help you recover your Amazon account.
5. Calling Amazon
Instead of using the callback feature, you can directly call Amazon customer support as well by using their toll-free number which is 0800-279-7234
Explain your situation in as much detail as possible to the Amazon representative and they will give you assistance in recovering your Amazon account.
What Should I Do if My Amazon Account has been Hacked but I Still Have Access to it?
If you feel that your account is being used by someone else, it’s important to take some steps as quickly as you can in order to lock them out of your account and prevent them from misusing it.
The steps you should take are:
1. Change Your Amazon Password
The very first step to take is to change your account password because whoever else is accessing your account knows it too.
Hence, it’s a good idea to set up a new password that your hacker is not aware of.
Step 1: Click on Your Account in the top-right part of the page as shown:
Step 2: Click on “Login & Security”.
Step 3: Click on the “Edit” button next to “Password” in order to change it.
As mentioned earlier, your new password should be as complex as possible and should ideally have no similarity to your older password.
This will make it much harder for whoever hacked your account to hack it again.
If you’re hesitant to use a complex password because you think you’ll forget it, it can be a good idea to make use of a password manager tool.
A password manager can be an extension on your browser or a standalone tool that you can download from the internet.
Some great password managers include LastPass, Keeper Password Manager, and Dashlane.
2. Check Your Account Information
Next, you should check to see if any of your account information has been tampered with. Some important things to check are:
- Your email account
- Your payment methods (bank account, credit cards, debit cards, etc.)
- Your shipping addresses
- Your phone numbers
If you notice any changes that you don’t remember, correct them.
Important note: You can also call Amazon customer support at 0800-279-7234 and inform them of your situation. They can help you monitor any unusual changes that may have been made to your account by the hacker. gain.
3. Check All of Your Orders
Next, you should check to ensure that all of the orders made from your account were made by you only.
If you see anything you don’t remember ordering, cancel it and inform Amazon customer support.
You can check your orders by hovering over Your Account in the top-right and clicking on Orders as shown:
Be sure to check all tabs when you’re reviewing orders as shown:
It’s also a good idea to check archived orders to ensure no alarming orders have been placed from your account. That’s where hackers typically like to hide their fraudulent purchases.
To view your archived orders, follow these steps:
Step 1: Click on Your Account in the top-right part of the page as shown:
Step 2: Tap on the Archived Orders as shown:
4. Enable Two-Step Verification
This is something you should always do with any online account but if you haven’t yet, please enable two-step verification on your Amazon account.
You can enable two-step verification through these steps:
Step 1: Click on Your Account in the top-right part of the page as shown:
Step 2: Click on Login & Security as shown:
Step 3: Click on the “Edit” button next to “Two-Step Verification (2SV) Settings as shown:
From there, follow the instructions to set it up.
Two-step verification is great because not only do you need your account password to log in but also a second code that gets sent either to your phone or your email address.
Hence, the hacker would need to have your Amazon account as well as your email account password to be able to log into your account.
5. Remove All Stored Payment Methods
If someone has been able to access your Amazon account, they may be able to use it not only to shop on Amazon but on many other online stores as well.
This is thanks to Amazon Pay which makes use of your Amazon account to make payments to other vendors online.
Hence, you should remove all credit cards, bank account, and Paypal details that you may have stored in your Amazon account until you’re sure that it’s safe again.
In addition to this, it’s also good to contact your credit card company and ask for a credit card statement. Scan it thoroughly to check for any unusual payments that may have been made.
Wrapping Things Up…
It can be extremely worrying to find out that your Amazon account has been hacked. Luckily, there are many steps you can take to get it back and also recover any money you have lost due to fraudulent orders made by the hacker.
We hope we’ve helped you recover your account with this post.
Do you have any stories about your Amazon account getting hacked? Let us know in the comments below.
