PSA: Don’t reply to that Essential Phone ‘order verification’ email, it’s a scam [Update]

[Update] 4:31 pm 8/30: Andy Rubin has posted a blog post to explain that the incident was not a phishing scam but was, in fact, a customer service error. The company has apologized to the customers who were affected and have provided them with a year-long subscription to LifeLock.

If you placed an order for the Essential Phone, you might want to check your email. Someone is currently emailing customers asking for further verification before their order is shipped. If you did receive this email, do not respond and delete it…

The email being sent out by customercare@essential.com reads as follows:

Our order review team requires additional verifying information to complete the processing of your recent order.

This verification is performed to protect against unauthorized use of your payment information and similar to what is conducted for in-person purchases.

Please provide an alternative email and phone number to confirm this purchase..

We would like to request a picture of a photo ID (e.g. driver’s license, state ID, passport) clearly showing your photo, signature and address. NOTE: the address on the ID should match the billing address listed on your recent order.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation.  Once verified, we look forward to shipping your order.

Thanks!

Essential Products Customer Care

Essential has taken to Twitter to announce that they are currently looking into the incident. As it appears that someone not only sent the email from an address tied to Essential but also gained access to the email addresses of customers, it is quite possible that someone hacked into the company.

Whether you’re someone who did respond to the email or just someone who ordered the Phone from Essential, keep an eye on your bank account. Several users on Reddit are reporting fraudulent charges showing up shortly after this email went out.

We have reached out to Essential for a comment and will update the post when we know more.

We’re aware of & looking into a recent e-mail received by some customers. We’ve taken steps to mitigate & will update with more info soon.

— Essential (@essential) August 30, 2017