Amazon sent an email that sounded like a gift card scam to warn about gift card scams, confusing customers

• Amazon customers flooded social media, confused about an email telling them they bought gift cards.
• The email warned the recipients about gift card scams, but the email itself sounded like a scam.

Amazon apparently sent out emails to hundreds of people thanking them for gift card purchases they never made and telling them to be wary of scams.

A Reddit community devoted to talking about scams was flooded with people worried about emails from Amazon that they received yesterday thanking them for gift card purchases for services such as Google Play, Hotels.com, and Mastercard.

"My wife received three emails from Amazon regarding recently purchased Amazon gift cards," one user wrote.

"We logged in to her Amazon account (didn't click any links) and there is nothing in her purchase history," the user added. "Also nothing on her Amazon credit card."

In a screenshot of an email in one post, Amazon warns the person who received the email that "there are a variety of scams in which fraudsters trick others into paying with gift cards from well-known brands" before prompting the user to click a link to learn more about gift card scams. The user who posted the screenshot said the email came from store-news@amazon.com.

"An error in our email system resulted in an order confirmation email being sent to customers who did not purchase a gift card," an Amazon spokesperson told Insider. "We have fixed this error so it won't happen again, and are emailing these customers to inform them of the error and apologize for the inconvenience."

Scammers often use retail gift cards to buy third-party cards, such as Google Play, which can be resold on the black market. Scammers will also impersonate loved ones, telling them they need money for urgent reasons, and that the only way they can receive it is through gift cards.

Hundreds of other people on Reddit said they received similar emails on Saturday after they had not purchased any gift cards. One user said they received the email about 20 minutes after making a purchase unrelated to gift cards.

"I'm just glad we're all smart enough to search it and not click all over the damn email," one user wrote.

"Some intern just caused a global panic and is definitely fired," another added.