a Amazon Prime Day, the e-commerce giant’s event, kicked off today with a variety of exclusive discounts for Prime members In many countries, including Portugal, until July 12th.
Despite the ‘madness’ of discounts, cybercriminals are also ‘on the prowl’ And ready to use multiple tactics to defraud and rip off consumers. In addition to the warnings left by cybersecurity companies, Amazon itself also alerts internet users to phishing schemes.
in the data to the Associated PressScott Knapp, Head of Consumer Risk Prevention at Amazon Amazon Prime membership schemes and those involving order confirmation are two of the major scams the company has discovered in recent years.
In a statement to the news agency, Amazon maintains that it has a “zero tolerance” policy for fake products and fake reviews. According to the e-commerce giant, more than 200 million fake reviews were blocked in 2022.
The company explains it Users can report fraud, as well as cases of false reviewsfollowing the instructions provided at Customer support department from your website.
What are the most common scams?
According to data provided by the Check Point Research (CPR) team Phishing attacks related to Amazon Prime were detected 16 times more frequently during June than in May. In all, there was an 8% increase in phishing scams associated with Amazon.
The researchers separate that during the period under analysis, Almost 1,500 new domains related to the term “Amazon” were registered. 92% of these areas were considered to be at risk.
The CPR team advanced that 1 in 68 new domains linked to Amazon were also linked to Amazon Prime. “About 93% of these areas are considered at risk,” he notes.
In line with Check Point and researchers by Trend Micro It also refers to a Huge increase in scams related to Amazon. Since the end of June, experts have detected more than 100 URLs pretending to be Amazon Prime Day websites.
Among the scams security experts from both companies detected were fake websites and ads, as well as phishing emails. As you can see in the gallery below, phishing messages are also questionable.
Click the images to see some examples of Amazon Prime Day scams
In the words of Josh Planos, vice president of communications and public relations for the US Better Business Bureau, the purpose of fraud is often the same. “It is always a trick to separate consumers from their personal information and payment details.”according to what the Associated Press quoted, citing the official.
However, the manner in which these schemes are presented has become more sophisticated, along with the development of technology, so that scams appear more “credible” in the eyes of unsuspecting consumers. As Amazon’s Scott Knapp warned, artificial intelligence is also beginning to “infiltrate” the methods of cybercriminals.
How to benefit from discounts safely?
To help you stay safe while enjoying Amazon Prime Day discounts, we’ve put together a handful of recommendations from cybersecurity experts. Note that in general, most of the advice in this article also applies to online shopping at any time of the year.
Click the images to see 5 tips for staying safe during Amazon Prime Day
1 – Does it sound too good to be true? Better not to trust
With a large amount of “attractive” offers circulating, it is important to maintain a monetary view. Take into account the amount of the discount, as well as characteristics such as the quality of the product or even the release date, to see if it’s really worth it.
2 – Errors and unusual language are warning signs
Emails or messages that are misspelled or in language unusual for an Amazon brand is one of the signs that you may be facing a fraudulent scheme. Note that these extraneous elements do not apply only to the body of the message.
to Amazon warn about it Sent emails always come from a specific address, which reflects the domain you’re buying from. For example, if you shop on Amazon Spain, you will receive emails from an address ending in @amazon.es, such as [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Also, pay attention to the links you access, and remember that you should not click on addresses that appear in mailings that appear to be fraudulent. According to Amazon, links to its legitimate sites “begin with https://www.amazon.es or the equivalent of a global Amazon website”.
Legitimate Amazon sites also have a period before “amazon.es,” such as https://www. algo “.amazon.es or “algo”.amazon.co.uk,” the company claims, adding that the text provided before the point “will not be an IP address,” such as http://123.456.789.123/amazon.es/.
3 – Check if the pages you shop on use the security protocol
Experts warn that it is not recommended to make purchases on pages without an SSL security certificate. To check if the page in question uses this certificate, look for “https” at the beginning of the address. When you access such a page, an icon with a padlock will also appear on one side of the address bar, depending on which browser you are using.
4 – Enhance the security of your account on the Amazon platform
To avoid potential problems, it is recommended to strengthen the security of your account on the Amazon platform with a strong, complex and unique password. If you need additional help, you can always refer to our tips, as well as the examples below, in this article.
5 – Share only necessary data
Amazon states that it “never asks that you provide personal information via email,” nor does it “update payment information that is not associated with an Amazon order you placed or an Amazon service you signed up for.” You should also be wary if any retailer asks you for this type of information, including when making payments. Still on the topic of payments, choose the secure options you feel most confident in.
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