If you purchase on Amazon frequently, you may be exposing yourself to cybercrime and scammers. What for? Criminals follow the money, and Amazon is an influential and well-known retailer. As a result, scammers are more proficient than ever. They can easily target naïve consumers with bogus web listings, phishing scams, money-payment scams, and other financial fraud. As a result, it’s hardly surprising that thieves are targeting shoppers.
Keep this in mind while you watch fraudsters by safeguarding your financial information and being aware of these frequent Amazon-related scams.
Email scam
Don’t take every email you get at face value. Fraudsters send fake emails to their consumers. If you get a strange email purporting to Amazon, do not open the attachment or click s. As per an expert, the letter may look from a legitimate retailer such as Amazon and may include a query for login details such as email address and password.
Experts warn against falling for it, stressing that all messages should come from an Amazon email address. Poor punctuation and grammar are a few red flags, he adds. There are many other types of emails to be aware of. According to experts, some fraudsters will send emails denoting a problem with an order or asking to confirm a mandate “to entice the person into clicking on the links in the email to redress the issue.”
Call hacking
Scams involving eavesdropping on phone calls. Let’s assume you have a question for Amazon before or after completing a purchase, and you want to contact customer support, so you go online and look for their phone number. Try to obtain the contact information from a reputable website before dialing.
“Swindlers know you’ll look up for customer support numbers online, which is something the swindlers take advantage of” says one expert. “In general, they establish a toll-free number that people frequently search for, such as the Amazon.com number, and then build or redesign an existing website.” And this toll-free number is a complete hoax.
And, as per him, if you contact the number and assume you’re speaking with someone from Amazon, you could be duped into giving a criminal your Amazon gift card information or other private details, resulting in your bank account being emptied. If someone claims to be from Amazon’s customer service team, do not hand out any personal information, as scammers like to use the phone for this purpose as well.
Bogus listing offers
While genuine businesses offer their items on Amazon’s marketplace, fraudulent “businesses” can quickly establish an online store. So don’t give away your credit card information just yet if you find a product advertised considerably below market value.
And according to an expert, what may throw consumers off is when scam artists build up a few months of legitimate sales, making their items appear credible.” People buy from the phony listings, and instead of receiving something in a few days, the scammer has run away with their money,” he explains.
There have been instances where thieves have purchased their goods and shipped them to a legitimate location. The scam artist then created a fake review, ostensibly from the buyer who received the product. The study came from a “customer” who purchased the product. You should check for reviews labeled with the “Certified Purchase” label to know if a review is genuine.
While reports of online scams are concerning, remember that you may shop with Amazon and other stores most of the time without exposing yourself to fraudsters. However, be cautious before disclosing any vital private information to prevent becoming a scam victim. And besides, it pays to be vigilant when it comes to you and your money, whether you’re out in public or the privacy of your own home.