NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon Prime Minister’s Day is here and experts are reminding consumers to be wary of scams.
Frauds such as fake emails from people impersonating online retailers like Amazon are nothing new. But phishing attempts increase amid big spending seen during major sales events, whether it’s Black Friday or Prime Minister’s Day, according to the Better Business Bureau.
“This is a big moment in the retail calendar,” Josh Planos, vice president of communications and public affairs at the Better Business Bureau, previously. told the Associated Press. “And because of that, it represents a huge opportunity for a scammer, con artist or even just an unethical business or organization to take advantage of the moment and separate people from their hard-earned money.”
Prime Day, a two-day discount event for Amazon Prime members, it starts on Tuesday and runs through Wednesday. In updated guidance released last week, the Better Business Bureau reminded consumers to watch out for lookalike websites, too-good-to-be-true social media ads 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 received a record number of phishing reports in 2023. Reports are also trending so far this year, the organization said.
Meanwhile, in a report released this month, Israel-based cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies said more than 1,230 new websites linked to Amazon appeared in June. The vast majority of them were malicious or looked suspicious, according to Check Point.
Scott Knapp, director of worldwide buyer risk prevention at Amazon, identifies two areas in which the company has seen fraud around day one over the past few years: Prime membership and order confirmations.
Last year, for example, more than two-thirds of scams reported by Amazon customers claimed to be related to orders or account issues, Knapp wrote in an emailed statement. People reported receiving unsolicited phone calls or emails saying something was wrong with their Prime membership and asking for bank account or other payment information to reset the accounts, Knapp explained.
Urging consumers to confirm an order they haven’t placed is also a common tactic this time of year, he added. Fraudsters may choose something expensive, such as a smartphone, to attract attention – and again ask for payment information or send a malicious link. They may also try to lure consumers with promises of a gift, or by using language that creates a false sense of urgency.
Amazon is trying to “ensure that fraudsters aren’t using 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 its app or website. .
Other scams are probably out there, but it’s hard to know what form they might take before this year’s Prime Minister’s Day rolls around. However, experts note that the same shopping scams tend to reappear year after year.
“Typically, the bones stay the same,” Planos said, pointing to fake delivery scams, email phishing and other recurring methods. “It’s always a ploy to separate consumers from (their) personal and payment information.”
But online scams are also constantly evolving to become more sophisticated, warn Planos and others. This means images can look more legitimate, text messages can sound more convincing, and fake pages that look very similar to real shopping destinations.
Amazon’s Knapp had this to say artificial intelligence “Leak start”, targeting scams e-commerce buyers follow the same approach, but with a machine completing an email or text instead of a person.
According to data from the Federal Trade Commission, consumers reported losing an estimated $10 billion to fraud in 2023, a 14% increase from 2022. Online shopping scams were the second most reported form of fraud, after fraudulent scams , the FTC said.
Both the FTC and the Better Business Bureau provide consumers with Advice to avoid scams throughout the year. The guidance includes blocking spam, not giving out financial information to unsolicited callers and checking links before you click — secure websites, for example, will have “HTTPS” in the URL, Planos notes, never “HTTP.” .
Scammers will often pressure you to act immediately, experts say. It’s important to stop and trust your gut. Experts also urge consumers to report scams to regulators.
Beyond scams impersonating companies or retailers, it’s also important to be wary of counterfeit products and fake reviews on the sites of trusted sellers. Just because you’re shopping on Amazon, for example, doesn’t mean you’re buying from Amazon. of the online shopping giantlike eBay, Walmart, and others, there are large third-party marketplaces.
Quality and appearance counterfeit products has grown significantly in recent years, Planos notes, making the activity difficult for police. A good rule of thumb is to look at the price – if the product is selling for less than 75% of its market rate throughout the year, “that’s a pretty big red flag,” he says.
Sketchy sellers can appear on various platforms, including sites like Amazon, “all the time,” Planos said, urging consumers to check the companies on the Better Business Bureau. Web page. Like other scams, counterfeit products can increase around periods of high spending.
Amid growing pressure to tackle counterfeit products, Amazon has reported getting rid of millions of fake products in recent years. The company said it also blocked billions of bad listings from entering its site. In 2023, Amazon said more than 7 million counterfeit items had been “identified, seized and disposed of appropriately.” The online retailer has also introduced multiple lawsuit against fake review brokers.
Amazon notes that customers can also report fake reviews and other scams to it Web page. If a shopper buys a counterfeit item discovered by the company, Amazon has said it will “proactively contact” the customer and provide a refund.