Have you recently received an email (or several) from Amazon thanking you for placing an order for a gift card, perhaps for Hotels.com, Mastercard, or Google Play? You’re not alone. The short answer is that the emails are legitimate but were sent out by mistake. Keep reading for the full story.

Amazon Scam Email Gift Card Explained

Over the last few days, many people have taken to social media to express their concern about having received emails from Amazon thanking them for gift card purchases — with many of them unsure if they’re bogus or legit.

Because gift card scams are so common, many people believed that these were fake emails sent by scammers — like the person who made the Facebook post in the screenshot below.

However, because the emails were sent from a legitimate Amazon email address (store-news@amazon.com), it naturally led many to worry that someone had gained access to their Amazon account and made the purchase on their behalf.

Fortunately, as reported by CNBC, the emails were simply false email confirmations sent out by Amazon by mistake. The issue was caused by an error in Amazon’s system that led to the emails being sent to people who hadn’t purchased the gift cards. After realizing the error, Amazon said it is emailing the affected customers to inform them of the error and apologize for any inconvenience.

How to Protect Against Real Scam Emails

Although these recent Amazon gift card emails weren’t scams, there are lots of real scams out there online, many of which are capable of stealing your personal and financial information.

Fear not, however, because there is an easy (and free!) way to avoid scams online: the Trend Micro ID Protection browser extension.

ID Protection can shield you from dangerous links in emails, scams, fake and malware-infected websites, and lots more! If you come across something risky online, you’ll be alerted in real time so you’ll know to steer clear. Click the button below to install for free.

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