As a holiday shopping season that’s predicted to hit record levels ramps up, Amazon – a go-to online shopping destination – is warning customers about scams.
In particular, the company is warning online shoppers that scammers may try to gain access to their Prime accounts with scam emails, calls and texts, according to CBS News.
“The bad thing isn’t opening the attachment,” Scott Knapp, Amazon’s director of worldwide buyer risk prevention, told CBS MoneyWatch.
“It’s clicking on the link in the attachment, which goes straight to their website, where they start collecting all kinds of information.”
Amazon Prime is a paid service provided by Amazon that allows access to faster delivery options as well as movies, TV, gaming, deals and more. Members get access to personalized deals on Prime Day, as well as Black Friday and Cyber Monday after Thanksgiving, and more.
Its annual pre-Black Friday promotion starts Friday.
Now that holiday purchases are increasing, Amazon said it has seen a spike in criminal activity involving the platform. One type of scam on the rise is e-mail attachment schemes. These – which involve criminals posing as Amazon customer service representatives and sending shoppers attachments suggesting that their accounts will be suspended if they don’t act – have doubled in the second half of 2023, said the Amazon.
“The emails include a link asking for members’ login credentials or payment information, which the scammers then steal,” said CBS.
Another popular type of scam directly targets Amazon Prime members. It has quadrupled recently, said the company.
“Scammers are also calling, texting and emailing Prime members about a bogus membership fee or account issue,” CBS explained. “They ask customers to confirm or cancel the charge by providing payment details, giving criminals the opportunity to steal sensitive information.”
Amazon said it’s already shut down more than 45,000 phishing websites and over 15,000 phone numbers belonging to scammers this year.
Holiday shopping can be stressful, and the added concern of scams just makes things worse. However, there’s an important thing to remember if you don’t want to get scammed: anyone who asks for money or payment information via phone or email is not actually from Amazon.
“We’d never ask for that,” said Knapp.
Other red flags are requests to pay with gift cards. Consumers should check out emails thoroughly before responding or clicking on any links, CBS said. Amazon also offers information about what shoppers should expect in official communications from the company.