It’s already rolled out incredible deals on its own line of tech, along with Apple products and items you didn’t know you wanted or needed. Just looking at the Prime Days deal page can be somewhat overwhelming — and that kind of distraction is exactly what cybercriminals are counting on. During a fast-paced sales event like Prime Day, some concerns might come to mind such as: Am I getting the best deal? Will an item sell out before I can buy it? Valid concerns, sure, but there are other elements at play including bad actors who want to take advantage of you. And if you’re not careful, you might not even know you’ve been duped until it’s too late.
A Prime Day for phishing
We’ve already covered tips on how you can keep an eye out for fake deals during Prime Day, but that’s not the worst of it. These kinds of big events bring scammers out of the woodwork, and they’ll be out in full force early this week using methods like phishing scams to dupe you into handing over your info. They’re using a phishing kit called 16Shop to carry out fake email campaigns but there are other risks besides links to malicious sites. Included PDF attachments will also try to trick you into giving up other sensitive data, including banking and credit card information, along with other personal details such as Social Security numbers.
Other Prime Day scam risks
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: 7 THINGS YOU SHOULD BE DOING WITH YOUR AMAZON PRIME ACCOUNT Again, it’s scammers looking to capitalize on your haste during sales events where you have to make relatively quick decisions on purchases. Luckily, you can protect yourself from getting duped.
Protecting your sensitive info during Prime Day
While a good practice year-round, it’s especially important to take a closer look at emails regarding Prime Day and other sales. The risk becomes greater because McAfee says a specific Facebook group is making it easy for scammers to get their hands on the 16Shop phishing kit mentioned above. And get this, the group hasn’t been shut down yet. Go figure. Here are some ways to stay protected: You can also report any suspicious emails, texts or spoofed websites you come across to the Federal Trade Commission. Here’s how to do it:
Forward phishing emails to the FTC at spam@uce.gov and to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org.Forward phishing text messages to SPAM (7726).Report phishing attacks to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.
