According to an Amazon report, 50% of the scams in 2022 were from people posing as company personnel and the increase in these frauds, in the month of July, was almost 40%.
Those who use the Amazon platform to make their purchases know very well that there are special dates, known as Prime Day. One of them falls on July 11 and 12, a season in which purchases of people who take advantage of the offers rebound. But those who also take advantage are the scammers, who in 2022 sent 37% more false “order confirmation” messages than in any other month.
“They send messages creating a false sense of urgency, to get people to share private information with them, such as account numbers, bank numbers, and then use them fraudulently,” said Pedro Maldonado, manager of tiendaamazon.com in the United States.
But what do those messages say that can get people to respond and hand over account numbers, credit card numbers, or other sensitive information?
“Saying that they are going to cancel your Amazon account, or that there were charges of 500 or 600 dollars. That obviously what it generates is an immediate reaction,” said Maldonado.
But beware, that’s the worst thing you can do.
Before answering “always take a pause, and instead of answering directly to that email, text or call, cut off the communication and go directly to the source, go to the amazon page, or the application, and there they will see if there is any message from us,” added Maldonado.
And if you receive one of these messages, they ask you to report it, so that Amazon can take action on the matter.
“They can go directly to Amazon.Com/reportafraud,” Maldonado said.
Just last year, those reports helped authorities apprehend scores of scammers.
“We report more than 20,000 internet sites, and more than 10,000 phone numbers to remove them from circulation and prevent them from continuing to scam,” Maldonado said.
And remember, do not send your password or personal keys through text messages or email, Amazon is not going to ask for them like that. Only trust their official page, or the application that you have downloaded on your phone to make transactions.
Scammers often pressure us to act quickly, to prevent us from thinking with a cool head, and realizing that we are being deceived. So take your time before reacting impulsively to any warning message from a company or a bank.
If they call you, hang up and if they send you emails, don’t answer. Just go and contact them independently to confirm if there are any issues.
