When Amazon Prime Days roll around, they're an enticement for you to take advantage of deals galore on their website.
Unfortunately, they are prime days for phishers, who are already hard at work emailing scams galore to take advantage of you. Here's how these bottom-feeders operate and how you can protect yourself from their nefarious schemes.
These schemes are primarily phishing scams, where these crooks reel in personal information like credit card numbers, social security numbers, and account logins/passwords by posing as legitimate organizations. They'll launch an email that looks like it came from Amazon.com, telling the potential target that a credit card on file has expired, or that a recent order needs a review. They'll also include a hyperlink for you to click, only it doesn't go to Amazon.com's site...it goes to theirs. The unwary victim enters their personal information on the fake site, and voila! The scammer is off and running until the victim realizes their personal information and/or financial accounts have been compromised.
The key thing to remember over the next few days is that Amazon will never ask you for personal information via email. Here's what they say on their own scam alert web page:
Amazon will never send you an unsolicited e-mail that asks you to provide sensitive personal information like your social security number, tax ID, bank account number, credit card information, ID questions like your mother's maiden name or your password. If you receive a suspicious e-mail please report it immediately.
The Better Business Bureau has posted a blog advising consumers of other Prime Day scams they should watch out for.
If you do fall prey to a scam, please contact Amazon.com immediately, as well as your financial institution(s), so that damage to your accounts can be minimized, even prevented in some cases.
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