No, Amazon is not contacting its members and performing regular fraud checks. Jason received this e-mail, which is associated with a rather convincing Amazon phishing site.

Here’s the exact message that he received:

From: Amazon Fraud Check
Date: Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Subject: Account Closure: please read
To: Subscriber

Greetings from Amazonfraudcheck.com.

Please take the time to read this message – it contains important
information about your Amazon.com account.

At Amazonfraudcheck.com, we routinely perform reviews of orders and customer
accounts to protect our customers. After careful review of your
account, we believe it may have been accessed and used by a
third-party to make purchases without your permission, but it appears
they did not use your credit card to make these purchases. It seems
that someone obtained your personal account and/or financial
information elsewhere, and used it on Amazon.com to access your
account.

We have closed your account effective immediately because of this
possible unauthorized account activity. If this recent account
activity (new shipping address) was authorized by you, please click the link
below to verify your account information, after that we will
reactivate your account.
Reference* http://www.amazonfraudcheck.com

It is important to know that Amazon.com accounts can only be accessed
by those who know personal, specific information about you and your
account — such as your email address, Amazon.com password, physical
address, credit card information, and other details. As mentioned
above, it appears someone obtained some of your personal account
and/or financial information elsewhere and used it on Amazon.com to
access your account.

In the future, you can protect your Amazon.com password and account by
following some of these safety tips:

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

1. Choose a good password: Use at least 8 characters and a combination
of letters and numbers. Do not use single dictionary words, your name
or other personal info that can be easily obtained, or a password that
contains part of your email address.

2. Password protection: Avoid using the same password at multiple
sites or for your email account. Do not share your password with
others.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Please know you will need to open a new account when you place future
orders with us. We strongly suggest that you follow the safety tips
listed above for increased password and account protection.

Please accept our most sincere apologies for any resulting
inconveniences, and feel free to contact us if you have any further
questions or concerns by writing to account-alert@amazonfraudcheck.com.

Sincerely,

Abdul Hakeem
Account Specialist
Amazon.com
http://www.amazonfraudcheck.com
=========================

Under the guise of fraud prevention and repair, they’re committing Amazon fraud. Slick, huh?

If you receive a similar e-mail, forward it to spoof@amazon.comso Amazon can deal with the phishy impostors.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.