Fact Check: Post claiming Amazon has begun presale of its own tokens is fake

New Delhi (Vishvas News): A post going viral on social media claims that the online retail giant Amazon has begun a “presale” of its own tokens. The screenshot of the creative also has a link. Vishvas News investigated and found the viral post to be fake. The company says the claim is false. It is a scam intended to steal money and harvest personal data.

Claim

A screenshot doing rounds on social media claims that the online retail giant Amazon has begun a “presale” of its own tokens. The screenshot also has a link AMZTOKENSALES.NET.

Vishvas News received the post on its Whatsapp Chatbot for fact checking.

Investigation

Vishvas News contacted Amazon Customer Care officials regarding the viral post. They asked us to share the screenshot of the post going viral. Upon investigation they said that: “This creative is a part of a scam. This is a means to harm company’s reputation and also to befool the users. The viral post is fake and is an attempt to steal personal information of the people.”

We further searched and found a blog post by Avast, an internet security firm, that stated, “The rumors originated from news stories reporting that Amazon could be entering the cryptocurrency market and creating their own tokens as part of that. These stories relied on speculation from an Amazon job posting in July 2021. The rumor has not been substantiated,  and there are no Amazon Tokens currently for sale.”

“Once someone clicks on one of these malicious ads, they are redirected to a well-constructed website that appears to be promoting Amazon’s new (nonexistent) Token cryptocurrency. However, upon closer investigation, you may notice occasional spelling mistakes on these sites,  which is an early tip-off that these aren’t legitimate,” it stated.

Earlier as well, Vishvas News debunked a similar claim that defamed the image of Amazon and debunked it. Check here.