I want to warn other sellers about a phishing scam I nearly fell for.

I had repeatedly reported a seller for listing abuse, but Amazon kept sending automated “no violation” responses. I then posted on the Seller Forums asking for help.

The next day, I received a message from someone claiming to be another seller who had experienced the same problem. He said his issue was solved after contacting an “Amazon internal person” named Joseph and recommended that I contact him.

The email address looked convincing because the domain contained the word “Amazon,” so I contacted him.

“Joseph” replied with a very professional analysis of my case, but then said the issue was beyond his responsibility and offered to introduce me to an external “compliance specialist.”

After searching the forums, I discovered that other sellers had reported the same scam pattern.

Please be careful: scammers appear to be targeting sellers who publicly post about unresolved problems and then pretending to have special access to Amazon insiders.

I also believe Amazon needs to take this seriously. Repeated automated responses and the lack of meaningful support leave frustrated sellers vulnerable to exactly this kind of scam.

If you receive a similar message after posting on the forum, do not trust it simply because it sounds professional or mentions Amazon.