With many people flooding the internet and the e-commerce world, hacking has become very common, and personal information theft has become quite a normal thing, especially on Amazon. Unfortunately, this spells disaster for Amazon sellers as an Amazon hacked account means the possibility of losing money, information, and buyer data which is a very serious loss for any business.

So what exactly do you do if you think that you’re susceptible to getting your Amazon account hacked? Well, we’ll be sharing some tips here on how you can go about.

Understanding a Hacked Amazon Account

In order to prevent and fight hackers, the first thing to do is to understand how accounts are getting hacked. There have been articles popping up about Amazon selling accounts and this fact alone can make you doubt Amazon’s capability in protecting your account. But has Amazon been hacked already? Fortunately, this is not the case.

The first question that may pop into your head would be whether hackers can bust into your account or not. Well, these “hackers” aren’t really hackers but really more of buyers. They would buy hacked accounts from the dark web and see which ones worked. After that, they most likely used the password in your other accounts as well. If the password didn’t work, then they most likely forced their way in by trying to guess your password.

So if you’re asking yourself, “was Amazon hacked”, the quick answer is no. It just happened that hackers found out the details to your credentials. We could say that you didn’t have a hacked Amazon account but more like a hijacked account. In a way, you can say that these guys were quite lucky that they got the right credentials.

What would happen if my Amazon account was hacked? The hijackers would then use your account to scam buyers and try to direct the money to their personal accounts. Luckily for us though, Amazon will verify the shipping details with the original seller first to make sure that the sale is authentic.

Who are the hijackers targeting? Well, they would usually look for the not-so-active accounts that have easy-to-sell products. Unfortunately, for the seller, the record still can’t be changed even if the account was already recovered. So really, it’s the seller that would get the bulk of the problems if their account is hacked.

Preventing an Amazon Hacked Account

With that knowledge, we can now work on how to prevent having an Amazon hacked account. Well, there are some things that you can do to prevent this:

» Change Your Password Regularly

This is actually a given, but many people still seem not to do it. Whether it’s your email, Facebook, or especially your Amazon account, it’s important to change the password regularly. Hijackers will be buying credentials that you used in a certain time period. For example, these hijackers could have bought a password that you have been using for a month. Now, if you don’t change your password, the hijacker could get in. What we recommend is that you change your password around once in two weeks.

» Don’t Use the Same Password Across Multiple Platforms

Having different strong passwords for each of your accounts can be a real drag because you have to remember so many things. However, it’s for your own safety, so you better do it anyway. Let’s just say that a hijacker was able to get your Amazon credentials. If your Facebook and email passwords are the same, then the hijacker could get into them too. This will put you in a real pickle with all of your accounts breached.

» Use a Two-Factor Authentication

This is another surefire way to prevent having your account breached. A two-factor authentication allows you to have another layer of verification even after your password has been entered. Usually, the two-step authentication involves a security code that has to be entered. After you enter your password, an account security code will be sent to your phone number or another account such as your email. From there, you have to enter the code before you are able to log in to your account.

Fighting Off a Possible Hacked Amazon Account

» Change Your Password

If you notice any suspicious activity, then the first thing that you have to do is change your password. Once you notice weird things like your settings being changed or your account being logged out often, then you must change your password right away before the hijacker does. Use a new password that’s very different from your old one so that the hijacker won’t guess it.

» Unlink Your Credit Cards

Another thing that you may want to do is to unlink your credit cards. This way, the hijackers won’t be able to use the information to make unauthorized purchases. If they already got a hold of your information, call your credit card provider immediately.

» Check Your Account Information

You will also want to know if ever the hijackers changed your information. If they do, then take a screenshot plus the date. After that, change it back to normal. You’ll want to do this because you’ll be reporting about the incident to Amazon. You’ll need to provide Amazon with as many details as possible so that you won’t get any bad points with the platform.

» Check Your Orders

The next thing that you have to check is the orders. Specifically, check if there have been any purchases or sales that you didn’t make. You must also take a screenshot of the evidence and document it. Also, you may want to check the Archived Orders section so see if the hijackers hid any of the orders there. If they did, then take a screenshot of the orders plus the header of the Archived Orders to indicate that these unauthorized orders were hidden in the Archives.

Conclusion

Account hacking or hijacking is something that can’t really be helped but must be handled anyway. If your Amazon account got hacked, it’s critical to act quickly and precisely. We have a big experience in such cases and can help to take your account back as well as all the funds that were frozen. Just write contact us using the form below or the live chat and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.