Picture the scene. You’ve ordered a product from Amazon.ie. You feel conflicted, because you needed a new car charger, but you didn’t want to support Jeff Bezos. Then you realise that you’re never getting that car charger because you bought from an Amazon scam store.
This is my story. You can even add in a sprinkle of hypocrisy given that we earn from Amazon Affiliate links (you try running an honest media company these days).
But this is a far more common story than you might think. This is the unfortunately infamous tracking number scam which is now on Amazon.ie.
What is a tracking number scam?
When you purchase something online, you expect certain reassurances from the seller. One of the most important is your tracking number, that alphanumeric code from An Post, DHL, DPD, or whichever courier is handling your delivery. It lets you follow your purchase from dispatch to doorstep, providing accountability and peace of mind.
But what if that tracking number wasn’t actually linked to your purchase? What if it was hijacked from a completely different order, heading to your general area but for an entirely different customer?
This is the tracking number scam. It’s equal parts sophisticated and simple.
How a tracking scam actually works
The process is deceptively simple. Let’s say, like me, you’ve ordered an in-car phone charger from Amazon (or another marketplace to be fair). Here’s what happens:
- The scammer lists the item at an attractive price
- You purchase it and pay
- The scammer uploads a tracking number to the platform
- You check the tracking, it’s active, shows movement, looks completely legitimate
- Days later, the status updates to “Delivered”
- But nothing arrives at your address
When you open a dispute claiming non-delivery, the platform checks the tracking number. It shows “Delivered” to your city or postal area. From the platform’s perspective, the seller fulfilled their obligation. Your dispute gets denied, and the scammer keeps your money unless you can prove fraud, which requires significant effort and evidence.
Where are scammers getting tracking number from?
This is where the scam gets particularly troubling. Scammers aren’t creating fake tracking numbers, they’re using real ones from legitimate shipments. When this happened to me, there was a tracking number attached to the product I ordered on Amazon, coming from China to Ireland. I could take my DHL tracking number from Amazon, and check it in the DHL website.
There would have been red flags had I done that, but early days I had no reason to be suspicious. It was only when it was marked delivered and I didn’t have my car charger.
So where are these scammers getting the legit tracking codes from?
There are two primary methods:
Buying tracking numbers outright
There are dodgy websites that openly sell active tracking numbers. I just Googled it and found a plethora of websites offering the service. You select parameters like destination city, origin region, delivery status (in transit or delivered), and estimated delivery window.
The service then provides a tracking code corresponding to an actual parcel heading to that area. It’s disturbingly straightforward.
Harvesting tracking data
Third-party package tracking services aggregate shipment information across multiple couriers. These platforms often don’t treat tracking numbers as personal information. Some scammers exploit this by scraping vast quantities of real tracking data, building databases of usable codes they can match to victims by location.
But Amazon is safe?
Generally speaking, Amazon is a very safe place to shop. It’s also a great place to have shopped when something goes wrong because Amazon’s customer care tends to air on the side of the customers. The problem is that not everything you buy on Amazon.ie is from Amazon directly. I missed this when buying my car charger. I was buying from a 3rd party seller or marketplace vendor.
I do look for trust signals on Amazon. When checking out this charger product page, I ignored the review ratings because they’re usually inflated, instead seeing the UGREEN Store and telling myself – yup, UGREEN is legit, I’m happy.
What I missed was further right and that the seller wasn’t Amazon; it was AIspace. If I had looked just a little further I’d find a seller that quite obviously was never going to send me a charger.
There was one other red flag that I’m annoyed I missed. If something is too good to be true, it probably is. I was a couple of filters deep when I bought the charger, so I don’t believe they were side by side when I bought them. But right now, they are. Why would the same product be so dramatically cheaper than another?
Well, the product on the left below, will actually get shipped to you by UGREEN UK. The product on the left will send you a delivered email for something completely different and that’s that. No charger for you.
Can you get a refund?
The elegance of this scam, from a fraudster’s perspective, is that it exploits the very systems designed to protect buyers. Marketplaces rely on tracking information to adjudicate disputes. When a tracking number shows “Delivered” to the correct general area, automated systems flag it as legitimate. Even human reviewers often side with sellers when faced with valid tracking data.
The parcel genuinely existed. It genuinely got delivered. It just wasn’t your parcel.
Amazon, typically quite quick to solve customer problems like this when they’ve sold the product themselves, aren’t so quick to resolve issues with 3rd parties. They won’t leave you high and dry, but Amazon treads much more carefully here. To Amazon, you bought a product and got a product delivered to according to tracking.
However, if they look closer they’ll see that my one product was four, not delivered to my address at all.
Amazon will take 24 to 48 hours to resolve your problem, most likely without issue. But if they do, you still have the route of charge back with your bank, which again, if needed, should be successful.
Scammers are hoping that for €15 to €20, you might simply forget, not be bothered, or not know what to do.
How to avoid being scammed
Here I am again, after falling for a scam I shouldn’t have telling you how not to do the same thing. Sorry, I realise it’s silly, but I do hope I can help others.
When shopping on Amazon, only purchase products directly fulfilled by Amazon or by reputable 3rd party sources. Check the reviews – like I didn’t.
On the day of my “delivery” the biggest alarm bell for me was the fact I realised for the first time DHL was “delivering my package”. They usually send loads of emails and messages, but I had received nothing. I couldn’t access the “proof of delivery” on the tracking number, and the tracking number had a different address along with four, not one, products for delivery. Obviously, this wasn’t my tracking number at all.
Seeing the seller’s Amazon page was the obvious nail in the coffin.
Am I worried? Not really. These things happen. I’m angry that Amazon lets it happen, and doesn’t seem overly bothered that some people just won’t jump through hoops to get their refund sorted. If this happens to you, be sure you know your rights and how to pull some refund levers.
It’s also really important to note that this isn’t limited to Amazon. Marketplaces are growing in stature. These are online stores used by high traffic websites to let 3rd parties sell to customers. It’s the new wild west of ecommerce and getting wise to the pitfalls is crucial.
