Beware of scams targeting online shoppers!
The huge pool of customers owned by giant e-commerce sites is whetting the appetite of cybercriminals who use various tricks to deceive unsuspecting victims.
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While users are happy with the comfort #Amazon brings to online shopping, cybercriminals are looking for ways to take advantage of this convenience. cybersecurity establishment #ESET, with the increase in online shopping, identified the most used fraud methods by criminals who focus on deceiving users.
📢Fake order phishing email
Like many services, Amazon has scammers who deceive people or impersonate them to steal personal information or steal login information to gain access to people's accounts. You may be receiving emails in a variety of formats, but scammers are often faking a common Amazon fulfillment email similar to what regular customers get many times over. For example, you may receive a confirmation email about a purchase you did not make. This email tries to trick you into clicking on various links that look like Amazon customer service contact information. Clicking on these links will take you to a page that looks like Amazon's official login page, but when you enter your information to log in to this page, your login information will fall into the hands of scammers.
Alternatively, #scammers try to get you to click on the link or attachment. When you click on this link or attachment, you may download a malicious #ransomware that will cause you to download #keylogging software to your device to capture your login information for all the services you use.
📢Gift card scam
Gift card fraud is another problem you may encounter frequently. Fraudsters use different strategies to deceive their victims, but they always have one goal; trying to trick their victims into buying and sending Amazon gift cards. Popular tactics are often to give the impression of an emergency or to create pressure. In this way, the victim acts quickly instead of thinking deeply about the content of the message or phone call. Victims may receive unconfirmed email messages or phone calls regarding an important matter that requires them to provide their ID number or issues that they will pay a penalty for using a gift card if not resolved.
📢Payment scams
Payment scams come in many shapes and sizes. Although they come in different formats, they are all for the purpose of gaining access to your bank account. They try many different ways to achieve this goal. One of the tactics used is to try to persuade you to pay somewhere other than Amazon's secure platform. They offer a variety of ways, such as paying a discounted rate. However, if you fall for this tactic, you will most likely lose money and not receive the product.
You also won't be able to file a complaint with Amazon because you're paying outside of its platform. Another tactic used by payment scams is to make a payment to a seller you can't authenticate to receive a prize they claim to have won. You should ignore offers that are too good to be true or offers that you suspect.
📢Dangerous phone calls
Sometimes scammers choose a more “analog” route and make fake support calls to fool their victims. The content of these searches may vary. But it's usually a pre-recorded message and impersonates Amazon to let you know that something went wrong with your account, something that might interest you, a suspicious purchase or lost package, etc. claims to be a case. If you keep the conversation going, the scammers will try to trick you into getting your sensitive data such as your personal information or payment data.
Keep in mind the phrase “trust but verify” when it comes to online shopping and related activities. As long as you are vigilant, curious, and keep your information to yourself, you can protect yourself from many scams. When you receive an unverified email, you should exercise caution and not share sensitive personal information with anyone claiming to be a "customer support representative".