Amazon Account Hacked? How to Lock It Down and Get Your Money Back

If your Amazon account has been hacked, secure the email account linked to it first, then change your Amazon password, turn on two-step verification or a passkey, and sign out of all other devices from your account’s security settings. Next, check your orders, payment methods, addresses and gift card balance for anything you didn’t do, contact Amazon customer service through the Amazon website or app, and call your bank or card issuer about any charges you didn’t make.

Work through the steps in order. Most of the damage from an Amazon takeover comes from saved cards and changed shipping addresses, so speed matters, but so does doing it through the right channels.

Signs your Amazon account was hacked

An Amazon account hacked by someone else usually shows at least one of these:

• Order confirmations you didn’t place, often for gift cards, electronics or other items that are easy to resell.
• Emails about a password change, a new sign-in, or a changed email or phone number that you didn’t request.
• A new shipping address in your address book, or a familiar address with a small change.
• Payment methods added or removed, or charges from Amazon on your card statement that don’t match your orders.
• Your password suddenly doesn’t work, or two-step verification codes arrive that you didn’t ask for.
• Changes to digital services, such as unfamiliar devices on your Prime Video or Kindle account, new subscriptions or items in your digital library.

Be careful with the first sign. A very common scam is a fake “Amazon” email, text or phone call about a suspicious order that never happened, one of several Amazon scams. The goal is to get you to call a fake number or click a link. Check your orders by opening the Amazon app or typing the address yourself, never through the message.

Step 1: Secure your email account first

Your Amazon password can be reset from your email. If someone has access to your inbox, they can undo every change you make on Amazon within minutes. Before anything else:

1. Change your email password to a new, unique one.
2. Turn on two-step verification or a passkey for the email account.
3. Sign out other sessions and check for forwarding rules or filters you didn’t create.

If your email was also taken over, recover that first. Our guide on what to do when an email account is hacked covers every major provider, and the Gmail-specific guide covers Google’s hidden settings in more detail.

Step 2: Lock down the Amazon account

If you can still sign in, open your account’s login and security settings on the Amazon website or app.

1. Change your password. Use a long, unique password you’ve never used anywhere else. A password manager makes this practical.
2. Check the email and phone number on the account. If either has been changed, put your own back.
3. Turn on two-step verification or add a passkey. An authenticator app or passkey is stronger than text-message codes alone.
4. Sign out of all devices. Amazon’s security settings include an option to sign out everywhere else. Use it, then sign back in on your own devices.
5. Review devices on digital services. Remove unknown devices registered to Prime Video, Kindle, Alexa or other Amazon services you use.

If you can’t sign in because the password, email or phone was changed, use the “forgot password” option on Amazon’s sign-in page. If that route no longer works, contact Amazon customer service through the help pages on Amazon’s own site. Their account specialists can verify you and restore access. It costs nothing.

Step 3: Check everything the attacker could have changed

Once you’re in, go through each area. Attackers often make small changes that are easy to miss.

Area	What to look for	What to do
Your orders	Orders you didn’t place, including archived orders and digital orders	Cancel any that haven’t shipped; note order numbers for Amazon support
Addresses	New addresses, or a default address that has changed	Delete unknown addresses; restore your default
Payment methods	New cards, removed cards, changed billing addresses	Remove anything unfamiliar; tell your bank about any card used
Gift card balance	A balance lower than expected, or gift cards redeemed to your account you didn’t buy	Report it to Amazon support
Subscriptions and memberships	New subscriptions, add-on channels, Subscribe and Save items	Cancel anything you didn’t set up
Household and shared access	Someone added to Amazon Household or shared payment access	Remove people you don’t know
Messages	Messages to sellers you didn’t send	Tell Amazon support; the attacker may have been arranging returns or refunds

Take screenshots before you delete anything. They help if you need to dispute a charge or file a report later.

Step 4: Call your bank and report unauthorized charges

Call the number on the back of your card, not one from an email or a search result. Tell your bank or card issuer which charges you didn’t make and ask whether they recommend replacing the card. Most banks can freeze or reissue a card quickly.

Report the unauthorized orders to Amazon customer service as well, through the help section of Amazon’s site or app, and give them the order numbers. Reporting to both matters: Amazon can investigate the orders and secure the account, and your bank handles the dispute on its side.

If the attacker changed your address to one they control, or used the account to get personal details such as your full name, address and phone number, watch your other accounts too.

Step 5: Change reused passwords and check for identity misuse

Most Amazon takeovers start with a password stolen in another company’s data breach and reused on Amazon, or with a phishing page. Either way, assume the old password is known.

• Change it everywhere you used it, starting with email, banking and other shopping accounts with saved cards.
• Check whether your email appears in known breaches. Our guide to Have I Been Pwned explains how to check and what the results mean.
• Report identity theft at IdentityTheft.gov, the FTC’s official site, if someone used your personal details beyond your Amazon account, for example to open new accounts. It builds a personal recovery plan. Our guide on what to do if your identity is stolen walks through the rest.

A worked example

This scenario is illustrative, not a real client. Priya gets an email at 11pm saying her Amazon email address has been changed. She didn’t change it.

1. She doesn’t click the email’s links. She opens her email provider directly, changes her email password and turns on two-step verification.
2. She tries to sign in to Amazon. The password has been changed, so she uses “forgot password”, but the reset goes to the new email. She opens Amazon’s help pages, contacts customer service there and has her identity verified.
3. Back in, she finds two gift card orders and a new shipping address two states away. She cancels one order that hasn’t shipped, deletes the address and removes a card she didn’t add.
4. She signs out of all devices, turns on two-step verification with an authenticator app, and calls her bank using the number on her card. The bank cancels the card and opens a dispute for the gift card charge.
5. She changes the reused password on three other sites.

The step that mattered most was securing her email first. Without it, the attacker could have reset the Amazon password again the next morning.

Common mistakes

• Calling a “support number” from a search result. Fake Amazon support numbers are common, and the people behind them ask for remote access, gift cards or verification codes.
• Fixing Amazon but not your email. The attacker gets straight back in through a password reset.
• Only changing the password. Addresses, payment methods and linked devices can survive a password change.
• Not telling the bank. Amazon can secure your account, but your bank handles disputed card charges.
• Paying a “recovery service.” Amazon account recovery is free and happens through Amazon. Anyone charging to do it for you is at best unnecessary and often a scammer.

How to keep your Amazon account secure

• Use a unique password stored in a password manager.
• Keep two-step verification on, ideally with an authenticator app or passkey.
• Keep your recovery email and phone current, and secure both.
• Review orders and addresses now and then, especially after any unexpected security email.
• Go to Amazon directly when you get a message about an order. If it’s real, you’ll see it in your account.

If you sell on Amazon, a hacked seller account is a bigger problem, because it can affect listings, payouts and customer feedback. Secure it the same way, contact Amazon through Seller Central’s own support, and see our guide on removing Amazon seller feedback if a takeover led to unfair ratings.

When a hack becomes a reputation problem

Occasionally a compromised account is used to post reviews, message sellers or leave comments in your name. If content tied to you is now showing up in search or on social media, our personal reputation management service can help with removal requests and cleanup. We’ll tell you honestly what can be removed and what can only be answered.

Frequently asked questions

How do I contact Amazon if my account was hacked?

Go to Amazon’s website or app and use the customer service or help section. Don’t use a phone number from an email, a text or a search ad, since fake support lines are a common scam. If you’re locked out, the sign-in page’s password help leads to account recovery.

Will Amazon refund orders placed by a hacker?

It depends on the situation. Report the orders to Amazon customer service with the order numbers and dispute the charges with your bank or card issuer. Acting quickly and reporting through both channels gives you the best chance of the charges being reversed.

Can someone hack Amazon without my password?

Usually they have the password from a breach or phishing page, or access to your email, which lets them reset it. Two-step verification and a secured email account block most of these routes.

Should I delete my Amazon account after it was hacked?

Usually not. Recover and secure it instead, so you keep your order history and can dispute charges. Delete it later if you no longer want it, once any disputes are settled.