Watch Out for the Latest Amazon Scam

Amazon Phishing ScamAmazon has been hit with a new scam that you need to know about before making any more purchases from them. Certain products, specifically electronics, are advertised as ‘used – like new’ and appear as legitimate deals at great prices, but in reality, is mean to scam you. When you click on these items, they will redirect you to a look-a-like page that appears exactly like an Amazon page would. They are however a phishing site meant to scam and trick you into stealing your personal information and money.

After you add the items to your shopping cart, and attempt to checkout, these items then become suddenly no longer available. You will then be contacted by the third-party merchant by email, stating that it was a mistake, and that the item is still available. It will link you to the item, on a website that looks exactly like Amazon, but is really a third-party phishing site. These sites can be quite sophisticated, and the average buyer might not think to be suspicious to it.

 

These websites attempt to emulate the Amazon shopping cart, and require you to login to your account, fill out your credit card details, your address and phone number. It is incredibly dangerous to provide all of these personal details to hackers, and we want to make sure you protect yourself from a phishing scam!

 

How you Can Stay Protected

  • Who is the email coming from?
    • Be sure to look at not only the nickname of the person who is sending you the email, but also the actual email address. If it doesn’t look legitimate, there’s a good chance that it isn’t.
  • Where are they redirecting you to?
    • Make sure to look at where the link sends you to before you click on it. You can do this by hovering over the hyperlink, and you will be able to see the exact address it takes you to.
  • Go to the site directly
    • Make sure that you’ve initiated the process to purchase. This means that you should manually access their legitimate website, and attempt at purchasing products from their shopping cart. Do not access the website from a third-party link. Also, if you’re in doubt about an affiliate retailer, ask Amazon’s customer service to confirm their legitimacy.
  • Could the deal be too good to be true?
    • Often times, if the price is really low, the chances are that it might be too good to be true. That doesn’t mean that it’s not real, but it means that you should pay special attention and be very careful throughout each step of the purchasing process.

 

When in doubt, ensure that you’re protected from phishing scams with a reliable anti-phishing solution. Also, be very careful before inputting personal information on any website in order to maximize your online security.