Beware of Fake Recall Notices, Consumer Reports Warns

Consumer Reports has issued a warning about a new kind of scam involving fake recall notices.

These notices are typically designed to inform consumers about potential safety issues related to products, including kitchen gadgets, baby items, and child seats.

Recently, Taylor Frost-Smith, a mother of three, fell victim to one of these scams, as reported by Consumer Reports. She received a text message that claimed to be a recall notice from Amazon for an item she had purchased in December.

“With three small children, I often buy different kinds of things every night. I love Amazon,” she shared.

“I am also very diligent about registering my products because I want to know if there are any recalls.”

In the message, there was a link to click for more details and refund options, but Smith sensed that something wasn’t quite right.

“The first thing I noticed was that it was limited to 18 people on Amazon, and I started wondering what this was,” she explained.

Rather than clicking on the link, Smith opted to check directly through the Amazon app. She entered her order number and asked Rufus, the retailer’s AI assistant, if there were any recalls associated with her purchase.

Amazon confirmed to her that no recall existed and informed her that she had received a phishing scam.

These scammers aim to get consumers to click on links and provide personal information, which they then steal.

Consumer Reports advises people to refrain from responding to these messages or clicking on any included links. Instead, it’s safer to visit the app or website where the product was purchased to check for actual recall notices.

Many online shopping platforms, including Amazon, maintain pages that list current recalls and safety alerts.

Another reliable resource for checking recalls is recall.gov or the Consumer Product Safety Commission at CPSC.gov.

If you’ve registered your product, it’s likely that you’ll receive a notification via email or a mailed letter if a recall occurs.

According to the 2025 Cyber Readiness Report, published in October, there’s been a 50% increase in text message fraud attempts in the past year.

The report indicated that 30% of individuals encountering digital scams noted that their first contact was through a text or messaging app, rising 20% from the previous year. This increase was most noticeable among those aged 18 to 29.

“Gen Z is experiencing record levels of text fraud due to the intersection of three trends,” said Jason Dorsey, the president and Gen Z lead researcher at the Center for Generational Kinetics.

“Firstly, texting is their primary means of communication, with hundreds of messages daily creating a perfect scenario for scammers. Secondly, they often engage in large group messaging threads with unknown contacts, making it easy to confuse a scammer’s number with that of a friend.”

“Lastly, they have less experience detecting fraud, but the convenience of instant access to money on their devices reduces the barriers for scammers. For many, this form of fraud has become so frequent that it almost feels normal, particularly with smaller amounts.”

As tax season draws near, instances of fraud tend to spike. The IRS has also issued warnings to taxpayers regarding scammers seeking to exploit them.

As is often the case, these fraud attempts may come through emails, direct messages, and texts that appear to be legitimate communications from the IRS, often employing alarming language or including QR codes and links.

The IRS strongly advises against clicking any links or opening attachments in unexpected messages.