Amazon Prime account holders need to aware of a rise in scams
It’s Amazon Prime Day today, and whilst that’s great news for anyone hunting for a bargain, it’s also not a good time to start letting your guard down. In fact, security experts are saying now is a prime time to get scammed by cyber crooks. With millions of us heading to Amazon’s website looking for a money-saving deal, crooks are using this yearly event to try to trick people into handing over personal data.
According to the team at NordVPN, more than 120,000 phishing, malware, and scam websites impersonating Amazon have been created in the past two months alone. That means online criminals could now be out in force and trying to catch you out.
NordVPN has said its data showed a huge spike in “malicious activity” during Amazon’s spring sale earlier this year, and warned Amazon shoppers to be wary come Prime Day this week.
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“Major shopping events like Prime Day create perfect storms for cybercriminals,” said Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer (CTO) at NordVPN.
“Scammers know that shoppers’ excitement and urgency around limited-time deals make them more susceptible to clicking on malicious links or sharing personal information without proper verification. People should maintain good cyber hygiene even when looking for the best deals.”
Along with issuing this new alert, the company has also given Amazon shoppers four clear rules to follow in a bid to help avoid scams this week
HERE’S HOW TO STAY SAFE
• Always shop directly through Amazon’s official website (amazon.com) to protect yourself from Prime Day scams.
• Verify that URLs display “https://” with a padlock icon before entering personal information.
• Be suspicious of deals that seem too good to be true.
• Prices significantly below market value are often red flags for counterfeit goods or outright fraud.”
It’s also worth being aware of so-called ‘Lightning Deals’ on Prime Day. These are limited-time offers and usually include a ticking clock next to them which shows when the sale price ends. It’s this urgency that criminals are hoping to prey on.
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NordVPN said over the two-month period, it detected and blocked 92,000 phishing sites with ‘Amazon’ in the domain name. It’s not just Nord that has issued an alert.
Amazon has also just sent out emails after seeing a huge spike in Prime scams that can leave users seriously out of pocket.
“We’ve recently noticed an increase in customers reporting fake emails about Amazon Prime membership subscriptions,” Amazon confirmed.
“We want to help you stay protected by sharing important information about these scams.”
If you have Prime and get a message in your inbox make sure you take time to check it. One scary scam that’s currently landing in inboxes suggests that Prime accounts need to be renewed with users then being asked to pay more.
“Do not click on any links in these messages,” Amazon warned.
“Scammers use fake websites to steal your Amazon login credentials and banking information.”