Every year thousands of millions of netizens fall victim to cybercrime. As per the previous reports, users have been scammed with more than $1 billion through various online web scams. Cyber-attacks and threats are on a significant rise. These attacks control the internet world from identity theft to phishing and tech support scams to refund scams. The news cycle is full of such scams every day. The hackers make thousands of dollars each day as a result of these scams.
Scammers consider online scams as a more successful metric for themselves than any other tactic. They have become more advanced than before and use several latest techniques and tools to breach users’ privacy.
But by initiating online scams, attackers get more successful. Thinking, why is that so? An online scam targets the individual’s emotion rather than their logic. The scammer creates an offer or a situation that lifts the target’s weakness and makes money from it.
There are several kinds of online scams, but today, we’re going to discuss a scam done on behalf of the biggest e-commerce store’s name. It is none other than an Amazon scam. If you want to know about it, let’s dive into this article.
What Is an Amazon Scam?
To launch an online scam, what scammers do is call people by using the name of big-tech organizations like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft to fool them and take away a large sum of money from them.
One version of such a scams is the Amazon scam. The target receives a recorded message in which the caller pretends to be a representative from Amazon. The message informs you about an order that can’t get completed, a suspicious purchase, a lost package, Amazon job offer, gift card scam, and email hacking scams.
There isn’t a single definition of what Amazon scams are. But to give our readers a much clearer picture, we can say that the fraudsters are using the Amazon digital retailing platform in lucrative ways to get money from the targeted people.
As mentioned above, the scammers impersonate themselves as fake sellers who set up fake accounts to lure and trick the buyers. No matter whichever tactic they adopt, their prime aim is to make money from the consumers.
Six Common Amazon Scams
Scammers have become quite smarter than ever before. They are using the most major E-commerce platform Amazon to launch various online scams. The attackers use persuasive language similar to that used in the emails that come via Amazon. The scammers are so sophisticated that you don’t even know that you’ve been scammed.
As the quarter of the year is around the corner, you should know about the six common Amazon scams targeting individuals so you can’t be the next one. The most widespread Amazon scams include:
Discount Voucher Scam
This kind of Amazon scam lures the buyers to reward them with an Amazon discount voucher. The scammers often send a fake message to the targeted victims via an email and request them to click on the given link to get their discount voucher. In the infected email, the luring message may sound like:” Your $2,000 Amazon gift card is waiting for you”. It might appeal that you are a click away from receiving a discount shopping voucher.
Upon clicking on that link, you won’t get any discount voucher. But instead, you’ll provide your personal and financial data to the scammer. They can compromise the given information and steal money from your account.
Gift Card Scams
The fake Amazon gift card scams are quite common that allow attackers to hack your online logins. As the name implies, the primary aim of such scams is to send as a gift. The fraudsters request a gift card and other payment methods that are easy to trace. According to the stats, in 2018, there was a 25.25% increase in gift card frauds.
Moreover, in December 2020, a pensioner in Plymouth loses £3,400 in Amazon gift card scams. Another woman in Australia lost AUD 4,000 in this scam. It is alarming that Amazon users need to be aware of these scams to prevent money loss.
The targets received a phone call or email in such scams who pretends to be stuck in a dire situation on an auspicious occasion and needs immediate help. The scammers tell them to buy an Amazon Gift Card and give them the codes via email or phone.
In other situations, the victims are being told that their important files or internet viewing have been captured, and payment through Amazon Gift Card needs to be made for recovery. Please don’t fall for it. You can only use the Amazon Gift Cards on Amazon and never use it to make any other legal payment for any individual or business dealer.
Amazon Order Confirmation Scam
It is yet another most common Amazon scam in which the user receives an email regarding an order confirmation for a product that you haven’t purchased. The item is pretty expensive, and it’s expected that when anyone sees such a large amount, they start panicking. The scammers are well aware of the users’ psychology and thus give a prominent number in the email and urge them to contact them on the given number.
In one of his videos, Jim Browning exposed a call center in Delhi that used to scam the people in Australia, the UK, and the US.
When called on a displayed number, the victim thinks they’re talking to Amazon’s representative, but it’s the scammer. The target, when conveying the whole story, so fraudster asks for the OTP code for verification. However, it is the point they scam them and compromise their passwords and other sensitive data and steal money from the victim’s account.
Amazon Phishing Scam
Phishing is the most widely used social engineering tactic. Verizon reported that recipients open 30% of the phishing emails. The Amazon phishing scams are the same as the other email phishing scam. The fraudster impersonates themselves behind Amazon’s name, and they aim to compromise the victim’s bank account details, credit card, and Social Security number.
What happens is that you receive an email from the scammer where he claims to be a CSR from Amazon. They mention in the email that your data needs to get updated. Some cases even say that you confirm your information because otherwise, the recent purchase you make can’t be complete. They might encourage you to click on a link and convey the data. By doing so, you lose your sensitive financial data and result in financial fraud and identity theft.
Fake Delivery Scams
In fake delivery scams, the scammer approaches the potential victims and offers them products and services at a discounted price. They lure the customers by buying the goods at a relatively low cost. The seller often asks the buyer to pay via the gift card. The victim who quickly becomes fools makes a payment through the Amazon gift card. However, the goods you purchased never arrived, and there’s no way to reach the seller and demand a refund.
Fake Amazon Job Offer Scam
The fraudsters create false employment ads or make a call for job applications to work for Amazon. The chance to work remotely with flexible working hours and earning thousands of dollars per month is fascinating for individuals. Everyone wants to work in such a big organization and is ready to make every possible attempt. The scammer asks you to make a fee by using your bank account or credit card number, and here they scam you.
In another instance, the scammer invites people to write Amazon product reviews and get paid for it in return. The targeted victims are redirected to a bogus or phishing site, and whatever information they provide to get the money will fall into the scammers’ clutches.
How to Prevent Amazon Scams?
By now, you’d be thinking how foolish you acted if you ever got scammed under the name of Amazon. However, the good news is that there are ways by which you can protect yourself from Amazon frauds. The following mentioned below tips keep the fraudster away from making you a target of the Amazon scams. The tips include:
- Don’t give any of your account login information that the imposter asks in email or text messages. Legal organizations like Amazon never ask for your credential in any such way.
- If you’re asked to click on a link you are not sure about, look for warning signs. Check out the spelling and grammar of the email. If you see errors, then consider it as spam.
- Contact Amazon support as soon if you give away any crucial information about your account and realize it later.
- Use reliable antivirus software that warns you about phishing emails and prevents your sensitive data from getting stolen.
- If you receive any job offer from Amazon, do check on their official website. They post all job vaccines there and don’t charge any fee for it.
- Amazon.com is an authentic site and won’t ever ask people to write a fake review. If you receive any such email, hit the delete button.
- Be aware of the latest scams and get enough knowledge to detect them.
Parting Words
Amazon is the most successful online e-commerce platform. The number of its users and sales are increasing every other day. However, one can’t neglect that Amazon scams are also rising significantly and defaming its name. Amazon has made it clear about its policies and has even warned the users about the frauds.
Follow the mentioned above tips and tricks and keep your data out of the Amazon scammers’ reach.
