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We’ve recently heard that scammers are recycling an old phishing attempt. In this version, scammers, posing as a well-known tech company, email a phony invoice showing that you’ve recently bought music or apps from them. The email tells you to click on a link if you did not authorize the purchase. Stop – do not click on the link. That’s the new twist on an old scam.

More precisely, you just experienced a phishing attempt – that is, when a scammer uses fraudulent emails or texts, or copycat websites to get you to share valuable personal information. The scammers then use that information to commit fraud or identity theft.

Scammers also use phishing emails to get access to your computer or network – then they install programs like ransomware that can lock you out of important files on your computer.

Here are some tips to help keep your information secure:

  • Be suspicious if a business, government agency, or organization asks you to click on a link that then asks for your username or password or other personal data. Instead, type in the web address for the organization or call them. The link in the email may look right, but if you click it you may go to a copycat website run by a scammer.
  • Be cautious about opening attachments. A scammer could even pretend to be a friend or family member, sending messages with malware from a spoofed account.
  • Set your security software to update automatically, and back up your files to an external hard drive or cloud storage. Back up your files regularly and use security software you trust to protect your data.

If you got a phishing email or text message, report it. The information you give helps fight scammers.

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It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

Angel
November 30, 2018
I received an email from a Ms. Baida which seems a little suspicious I have attached the email: Hello Dear, I am contacting you due to my critical illness, I have decided to give away my wealth to you as a donation for charity work. Respond to my private Email at baio@ bai-office. com for more details. Yours Sister, Ms. Baida.
JLtrisd-721
November 30, 2018
I'm constantly getting email scams from these two email addresses: amire@ psgcorp. net and Pro-TechACH @gmail. com . The first contains a virus and the second keeps sending fake invoices. I'm afraid that the websites that handle complaints could be fake too.
arye
October 03, 2019
Well thanks for all this info. I have been receiving an email invoice for $7,368. Doesn't say what it is really for. There is a mishmash of alphabets. An unsubscribe is at the bottom, but when I went there it asked me to send an email to a pre-typed email address. I did not send the email forward. Hoping, that when I clicked on the unsubscribe that it did not give them a door to enter my computer.
Theo
October 30, 2020
Got a scammer email from angelodagnillo@alice.it with some sort of claim about a video. It would seem that in this era of high tech our government could do something about these criminal activities.
Eugenia
December 11, 2019
I receive these email, of something that I had never purchase RE: (receipts!) [Account Report] [Invoice!] Thank you for ordering Item # GLURIPTX on [Wednesday, December 11, 2019] [Order Confirmation] [attachment (PDF) for further details!] - [FWD] [LTD] I have change my password because it said if you not purchase it to cancel your order
notagain#
December 28, 2019
Just received an email with invoice attached for an app purchased from apple. Email asked to click on a link if I did not order the app. Reported email and deleted it.
Birdie
August 21, 2020
I received and email stating that I had successfully paid $300+ invoice for a windows defender product. But no indication of what form of payment. It was from “Billing Team” and the email address is support@
Sig
August 17, 2020
PayPal has sent me two unsolicited invoices; one for an unknown person and another for PayPal charities each in the amount of 50.00 PayPal is unresponsive to my requests for them to remove these "invoices" from my account
cementbond
March 29, 2021
I received an e-mail invoice from Amazon for a couple items worth about $4800. Thank goodness I checked for the latest scam report. I was 2 seconds away from clicking on the invoice number.
TMM
June 12, 2021
Received text regarding an Amana purchase from Amazon (which was not made), prompting me to dial 1-844-304-6235. The individual identified himself as from Amazon and alluded that my accounts may be locked. Immediately sent a Amazon OTP code and was mildly paniced when I refused to give him the digits he sent. I called just to extrapolate more info to pass onto the authorities. I was aware from the outset it was a scam. And it wasn't a link so I felt the phone call wouldn't cause harm.
Marie
June 28, 2021
I have been getting them from Amazon and Paypal saying that I bought items I didn't purchase. Also, from 'Norton' saying that they were billing me for a year of internet security and needed access to my computer! Please catch these people. Hardworking citizens are being harassed and it isn't right. The amount of these scams has quadrupled and they need to be behind bars instead of living off of our tax dollars, on extra unemployment, harassing us while we are paying their bills. Enough already.
UncleWoody059
August 13, 2021
Received my first like this today… in the from line: MY NAME sent to line: MY EMAIL ADDRESS BODY: An Invoice from: SV Payment Invoice: ———————— Note: it looked as though, I forwarded an invoice I received to my email account. Very slick! I tapped on my name in the header, and someone else’s email address popped up! I haven’t a clue how they did this.
lstm
August 26, 2021
received email at work invoices@payment-banking.com regarding overdue invoices - do not have - invoices.com - your trusted payment provider saying they can't add documents to request, etc. several emails trying to purchase from walmart/target
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