Amazon Prime Day is a big event for scammers, experts warn

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Amazon Prime Day is approaching, and experts are reminding consumers to beware of scams.

Scams like fake emails from online retailers like Amazon are nothing new. But phishing attempts are on the rise amid the big spending seen during major sales events, whether it’s Black Friday or Prime Day, according to the Better Business Bureau.

“It’s a huge moment in the retail calendar,” Josh Planos, vice president of communications and public relations for the Better Business Bureau, previously told The Associated Press. “Because of that, it presents a huge opportunity for a scammer, a fraudster, or even an unethical company or organization to take advantage of this moment and separate people from their hard-earned money.”

Prime Day, a two-day discount event for Amazon Prime members, begins Tuesday and runs through Wednesday. In updated guidelines released last week, the Better Business Bureau reminded consumers to be wary of lookalike websites, social media ads that are too good to be true and unsolicited emails or calls during this month’s sales events.

Consumers may need to be more vigilant this year than ever before. In June, the Better Business Bureau released a report that found a record number of phishing reports were received in 2023. The organization also said the number of reports is on the rise this year.

Meanwhile, in a report published this month, Israeli-founded cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies found that more than 1,230 new websites linked to Amazon appeared in June. The vast majority of them were malicious or appeared suspicious, Check Point said.

Scott Knapp, director of global shopper risk prevention at Amazon, points to two areas where the company has seen scams related to Prime Day in recent years: Prime memberships and order confirmations.

For example, last year, more than two-thirds of scams reported by Amazon customers claimed to be related to order or account issues, Knapp wrote in an emailed statement. People reported receiving unsolicited phone calls or emails saying something was wrong with their Prime membership and asking for their bank account or other payment information to restore their accounts, Knapp explained.

Getting consumers to confirm an order they didn’t place is also a common tactic this time of year, he added. Scammers might choose something expensive, like a smartphone, to get their attention — and then ask for payment information again or send a malicious link. They might also try to lure consumers with promises of a gift or use language that creates a false sense of urgency.

Amazon is trying to “ensure that fraudsters don’t use our brand to defraud people who trust us,” Knapp wrote, adding that customers can confirm their purchases and verify messages from the company on its app or website.

There are likely additional scams out there, but it’s hard to say what form they might take before this year’s Prime Day rolls around. Still, experts note that the same shopping scams tend to pop up year after year.

“Usually the skeleton remains the same,” Planos said, pointing to fake shipping scams, email phishing and other recurring methods. “It’s always a ruse to separate consumers from (their) personal and payment information.”

But online scams are also constantly evolving, becoming more sophisticated, Planos and others warn. That means images can look more believable, text messages can sound more convincing and fake websites can look very similar to real shopping sites.

Amazon’s Knapp said that as the use of artificial intelligence is “starting to leak out,” scams targeting e-commerce customers are using the same strategy, but instead of a human, a machine is involved in emails or text messages.

Consumers reported losing $10 billion to scams in 2023, up 14% from 2022, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC said online shopping scams were the second most commonly reported form of fraud, after customer impersonation scams.

Both the FTC and the Better Business Bureau offer tips for consumers to avoid scams year-round. Tips include blocking unwanted messages, not giving out financial information to unsolicited callers and checking links before clicking — for example, secure websites will have “HTTPS” in the URL, Planos notes, never “HTTP.”

Experts say scammers will often pressure you to act immediately. It’s important to stop and trust your instincts. Experts also urge consumers to report scams to regulators.

In addition to scams impersonating companies or retailers, it’s also important to be wary of counterfeits and fake reviews on trusted retailer sites. Just because you shop on Amazon, for example, doesn’t mean you’re buying from Amazon. Online shopping giants like eBay, Walmart, and others have huge third-party marketplaces.

The quality and appearance of counterfeits have improved dramatically in recent years, Planos notes, making it harder to police. A good rule of thumb is to look at the price — if a product is selling for less than 75% of its full-year market value, “that’s a pretty big red flag,” he says.

Dodgy sellers can pop up on platforms, including sites like Amazon, “all the time,” Planos said, urging consumers to check out the companies on the Better Business Bureau website. Like other scams, the number of counterfeit products can increase during periods of high spending.

Amid growing pressure to combat counterfeits, Amazon said it has removed millions of fake products in recent years. The company said it has also blocked billions of bad listings from landing on its site. In 2023, Amazon said more than 7 million counterfeit items had been “identified, seized, and properly disposed of.” The online retailer has also filed multiple lawsuits against fake review brokers.

Amazon notes that customers can also report fake reviews and other scams on its website. If a buyer purchases a counterfeit item that the company detects, Amazon said it will “proactively reach out” to the customer and issue a refund.