Skip to content
LatchkeyDaily
Subscribe

Lockdown guide · about 10 minutes

Lock down your Amazon account

By The Latchkey Daily Team, EditorsPublished Updated Verified January 21, 2027

What's at risk: Amazon has your cards and your address, and it is the most impersonated company in the country.

Verified against Amazon web and app, January 2027.

You'll need: a password manager, your phone.

One account a day

The Deadbolt series runs in the daily brief. Get the next guide tomorrow morning.

Free. Weekday mornings. Includes free access to In Case and Serum, the Latchkey tools. Unsubscribe in one click.

Step by step

  1. Open Login & security. Go to amazon.com, Account, Login & security. Everything below is here.
  2. Change the password. Password, Edit. Use a long unique phrase saved in your password manager.
  3. Turn on two-step verification or a passkey. Two-Step Verification, Edit, and choose an authenticator app rather than text. If you see Passkey, add one; it uses your phone's face or fingerprint and cannot be phished.
  4. Review devices. Login & security, Secure your account (or Your devices). Sign out of any device you do not recognize.
  5. Clean up payments and addresses. Account, Your Payments: remove old cards. Account, Your Addresses: remove any you do not recognize; a scammer who adds an address can ship to it.
  6. Review apps with access. Login & security, Apps and websites you've given access to. Remove anything you no longer use.

Amazon impersonation works because almost everyone has an account and almost everyone is waiting for a package. The account itself is easy to secure; the harder part is the habit: every message about Amazon is checked inside the real app, never by clicking or calling back.

Do this for a parent

  1. Turn on the passkey so there is nothing to type and nothing to phish.
  2. Show them Your Orders and the rule: a call or email about an order is checked only here, never by calling back.
  3. Consider Amazon Household so you can see orders if they want you to.

The whole set, in one afternoon: the Family Setup Kit.

If you get locked out

  1. Use "Forgot password" on the sign-in page; the reset goes to the email on the account, so secure email first.
  2. If the email on the account was changed, contact Amazon customer service through the real site's Help pages, not a number from a search result.

Questions people ask

I got a call about an Amazon order I didn't place. What do I do?
Hang up and open the Amazon app yourself. If Your Orders shows nothing, nothing happened. Amazon does not call about orders you did not place.

Related

  • Guide

    Lock down your Gmail account

    Your email is the master key. Anyone inside it can reset the password on your bank, your Amazon and everything else.

  • Guide

    Lock down your iPhone

    Your phone is your bank, your email, your photos and your two-factor codes. A stolen passcode is a stolen life.

  • The scam this stops

    The Amazon impersonation scam

    The Amazon impersonation scam is a call, text or email about a large order you did not place, a locked account or a Prime renewal, designed to get you to call a number or click a link where a fake agent takes your login, your card, or remote control of your device.

  • The scam this stops

    The package delivery text scam

    The package delivery text scam is a text claiming a package could not be delivered because of a missing address detail or a small redelivery fee, with a link to a fake carrier page that collects your card number and personal details.