Beware these scams on Amazon Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day kicked off on Monday, with 48 hours of deals for tens of millions of consumers who are Amazon Prime members, but the surge in internet traffic is also likely to attract scammers looking to steal your data and payment card details.
"Consumers should proceed with caution," Monique Becenti, product and channel specialist at SiteLock, said in a statement. "A marked discount shopping holiday means there is vast opportunity for cybercriminals to try to steal information."
Shoppers should consider adding extra security such as two-factor authentication and virtual private networks, which make it more difficult for scammers to steal your data. Scammers typically auction off personal information to criminals on the dark web. In the wrong hands, the information can be used by hackers to access other logins, like bank accounts, raising the risk of stolen assets and identity theft.
Here are four scams shoppers should be on the lookout for on this year's Prime Day on July 15 and 16:
Spoofed sites
Shoppers should access Amazon.com directly from their browser, rather than through an email or link, experts said. That's because fraudulent links can redirect consumers to websites crafted to resemble Amazon, but which are actually fake and set up to steal your credit card data. If you come across a spoofed Amazon site, you can report it to the Federal Trade Commission.
"If something doesn't look right, it's probably not right," SiteLock's Becenti said.
Shoppers who use two-factor authentication on Amazon will be prompted for their details before they proceed on the site. If they don't receive the usual prompt, it's a red flag that the site isn't authentic.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
So, my total purchase less credit on two small already discounted items was a whopping $3.94 and it has already shipped. No big spender here.
But yes, always shop directly from the website. I hate that people continue to be taken in by email links to phishing sites. I'm fortunately quite paranoid about it.