Amazon Prime Day is a big event for scammers, experts warn

NEW YORK — Amazon Prime day is here and experts are warning consumers to beware of scams.

Deceptions such as fake emails from people pretending to be online retailers such as Amazon are nothing new. But phishing attempts According to the Better Business Bureau, spending increases during major sales events like Black Friday and Prime Day.

“This is a huge moment in the retail calendar,” Josh Planos, vice president of communications and public relations at the Better Business Bureau, said earlier told The Associated Press“And so it’s a huge opportunity for a scammer, a con artist or even an unethical company or organization to take advantage of the moment and rob people of their hard-earned money.”

Prime Day, a two-day event discount event for Amazon Prime members, starts Tuesday and runs through Wednesday. In updated guidance released last week, the Better Business Bureau reminded consumers to beware of lookalike websites, too-good-to-be-true offers on social media and unsolicited emails or phone calls during sales events this month.

Consumers may need to be more vigilant this year than ever before. In June, the Better Business Bureau released a report saying it had received a record number of phishing reports in 2023. Reports are also trending upward this year, the organization said.

Meanwhile, Israeli-founded cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies said in a report released this month that more than 1,230 new websites emerged in June that associated themselves with Amazon. The vast majority of them were malicious or appeared suspicious, Check Point said.

Scott Knapp, Amazon’s director of global buyer risk prevention, points to two areas where the company has seen hoaxes during Prime Day in recent years: Prime Membership and order confirmations.

Last yearFor example, more than two-thirds of the scams reported by Amazon customers claimed to be related to problems with orders or accounts, Knapp wrote in an emailed statement. People reported receiving unsolicited phone calls or emails saying something was wrong with their Prime memberships and asking for bank account or other payment information to restore the accounts, Knapp explained.

Urging consumers to confirm an order they didn’t place is also a common tactic this time of year, he added. Scammers may choose something expensive, like a smartphone, to grab attention — and then ask for payment information again or send a malicious link. They may also try to lure consumers in with promises of a giveaway, or by using language that creates a false sense of urgency.

Amazon is “trying to ensure that scammers don’t use our brand to take advantage of people who trust us,” Knapp wrote, adding that customers can confirm their purchases and verify messages from the company on the app or website.

There are likely more scams, but it’s hard to say what form they’ll take before Prime Day rolls around this year. Still, experts note that the same shopping scams crop up year after year.

“Usually the bones stay the same,” Planos said, pointing to fake delivery scams, email phishing and other repetitive methods. “It’s always a ploy to separate consumers from (their) personal and payment information.”

But online hoaxes are also constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated, Planos and others warn. That means images may look more legitimate, text messages may sound more convincing, and fake websites may look like real shopping destinations.

Amazon’s Knapp has said that with artificial intelligence “starting to leak in”, the scams aimed at e-commerce Buyers take the same approach, but with a machine filling out an email or text message instead of a person.

According to data from the Federal Trade Commission, consumers reported losing about $10 billion to fraud in 2023, a 14% increase from 2022. Online shopping fraud was the second most reported type of fraud, after impostor scams, according to the FTC.

Both the FTC and the Better Business Bureau offer consumers tips to prevent scams all year long. Guidelines include blocking unwanted messages, not giving out financial information to unsolicited callers, and checking links before clicking on them — secure websites, for example, have “HTTPS” in the URL, Planos notes, never “HTTP.”

Scammers often pressure you to take immediate action, experts say. It’s important to pause and trust your instincts. Experts also urge consumers to report scams to regulators.

In addition to scams that imitate companies or retailers, it is also important to be careful of counterfeit products and fake reviews on the sites of trusted retailers. Just because you shop on Amazon, for example, doesn’t mean you’re buying from Amazon. online shopping giantlike eBay, Walmart and others, has huge third-party marketplaces.

The quality and appearance of Counterfeit products has increased significantly in recent years, Planos notes, making the activity difficult to monitor. A good rule of thumb is to look at the price tag: If the product is selling for less than 75% of the market price for the year, “that’s a pretty big red flag,” he says.

According to Planos, questionable sellers can pop up all the time on various platforms, including sites like Amazon. He urged consumers to check out businesses on the Better Business Bureau website. websiteAs with other types of fraud, sales of counterfeit products may increase during periods of high spending.

Amid mounting pressure to crack down on counterfeit products, Amazon has said it has removed millions of fake products in recent years. The company also said it has blocked billions of bad listings from appearing on its site. In 2023, Amazon said the company “identified, seized, and appropriately disposed of” more than 7 million counterfeit items. The online retailer has also taken down several lawsuits against fake appraisal brokers.

Amazon notes that customers can also report fake reviews and other scams on its website. websiteIf a customer purchases a counterfeit item detected by the company, Amazon said it will “proactively contact” the customer and provide a refund.