Brand impostor scams are proliferating and one of its victims is Amazon.
In other words, experts say consumers should beware if a message alerts them that there is an issue with their Amazon Prime account, like if their membership has been paused due to a payment issue for instance.
Amazon Prime scams are similar to impostor call center scams that have been plaguing consumers in the U.S. for a decade, Michael Bordash, senior vice president of research and development at communications technology company Syniverse, told FOX Business.
AMAZON PRIME DAY: SCAMS TO WATCH FOR DURING MAJOR SALES EVENT
Of late, criminals are attacking victims across all channels and they are using a combination of AI-driven, multilingual, content creation and brute-force human effort to do it, according to Bordash.
They essentially blast consumers with a rash of calls, texts, and email. They are also setting up impostor brand call centers to emulate major U.S. companies like Amazon, Bank of America, and even federal agencies like the FTC and IRS, according to Bordash.
Examples of messages that Syniverse has detected and blocked:
“Amazon: Due to a payment issue, your Prime membership has been paused; Please recheck the details on file.
“Amazon: Your account is abnormal
An Amazon spokesperson said account issue scams involve fake billing issues, and may refer to unauthorized account access. The message will often threaten account suspension unless the fake issue is resolved urgently.
According to Amazon, of all the scams impersonating the company reported by its customers globally in 2023, over two-thirds of scams claimed to be related to order or account issues and both were reported in over 20 countries.
In some cases, bad actors will try to trick victims with order issue scams where someone will claim that a purchase was never made, and ask the victim to confirm or deny the purchase and provide account information to the scammer.
AMAZON PRIME DAY SPENDING EXPECTED TO REACH RECORD $14B
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 182.50 | +2.65 | +1.47% |
How does this happen:
The messages are intended to create a sense of urgency and try to direct a victim to a specific website or to call a specific number.
If the victim falls for it, the criminal can either collect personal information to sell to another criminal, use the information to take over the Amazon account or purchase gift cards, which are then sold for cash on various public and dark sites, according to Bordash.
How to protect yourself:
Shawn Moorhead, vice president at Lastwall, which strengthens the cybersecurity posture of defense and critical infrastructure partners, told FOX Business that customers should verify the senders’ email address to ensure it’s legitimate and to avoid clicking on links and attachments.
Before clicking links, Moorhead said it’s important to hover over them to see the actual URL.
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