Amazon issued a stark warning about a surge in sophisticated impersonation scam targeting users, specially during the Black Friday shopping period.
The retail giant emailed the warning to over 300 million users, warning that cybercriminals are actively seeking to steal sensitive personal, bank, and Amazon account details.
The scammers are employing a variety of tactics including fake delivery or account issue messages, too-good-to-be-true deals usually popped up as third-party ads and unsolicited tech support calls.
Officials warn that a prominent red flag is any communication received through unofficial channels that requests payment information or account credentials.
The new warning is followed by new data from cybersecurity firms. A FortiGuard Labs report confirmed a pre-holiday spik in fraudulent activities, recognising over 18,000 holiday-themes domains registered in recent months, with atleast 750 confirmed as malicious.
Additionally, as reported by NordVPN, there’s been a 232% increase in fake Amazon websites only in October, designed to trick rushed customers.
Experts also confirmed that the threat is evolving. To stay protected, Amazon advises customers to only rely on the official website for any customer service, tracking of refunds.
Additionally, the company also strongly suggests setting-up two-factor authentication and using safer passwords for sign-in.
Most importantly, authorities confirm that the company will never ask for payment details over the phone or send emails requesting customers to verify their credentials.