Shoppers eager to score discounts from Amazon (AMZN)'s annual Prime Day will face an onslaught of fake deals through phishing emails and texts.
Fraudsters are hoping to lure in victims with deals that are too good to be true and steal their personal information.
Deals by various brands are already cropping up even though Prime Day does not kick off until July 11 and lasts through July 12. Amazon launched Prime Day in 2015 to mark its 20th anniversary.
DON'T MISS: Fraudsters' New Trick Uses AI Voice Cloning to Scam People
Expect Spike in Emails
Shoppers will be bombarded with an uptick in emails, but many of those will be sent by cyber criminals who are seeking to obtain personal and financial information.
Consumers who are unsure if an email is authentic can go directly Amazon's Prime Day link instead of clicking on a link.
"Steer clear of private sellers with goods for sale at a price that seems too good to be true," Darius Kingsley, head of consumer business practices at Chase Bank told TheStreet.
Delivery Scams Rising
Phishing emails are often disguised to come from FedEx, UPS or the U.S. Postal Service with a link to view “missed deliveries.” These links lead to pages that are infected with malware or attempt to gain your personal information such as a birth date.
"Don’t reply to an email, phone call or text message that asks you for your personal or financial information, including asking you to send money or cryptocurrencies to avoid a service interruption or to receive your delivery," he said.
Emails and texts alerting consumers to a delivery are commonly used by fraudsters to lure unsuspecting people.
"As a general rule, if you get a text or email about a delivery, never click the link directly," Melissa Bischoping, a director of endpoint security research at Tanium, a Kirkland, Washington-based cybersecurity and systems management company, told TheStreet.
Instead, type the shipping website into your browser or use their app, she said.
"Many services allow you to sign up for an account and all packages coming to your address will automatically appear for you to track," Bischoping said.
Avoid Deals Expiring Soon
One of the best weapons in a cyber criminal’s arsenal is urgency, Rick Hanson, president at Delinea, a Redwood City, Calif.-based provider of privileged access management solutions, told TheStreet.
"As consumers look to jump on the next great sale or deal, they often let their guards down and don’t always pay attention to red flags and may not check to ensure that an email about an Amazon Prime Day deal is really coming from Amazon," he said.
The number of AI-assisted telephone scams is on the rise, so look out for them.
"Cyber criminals have become very adept at using AI and machine learning to help them sound more trustworthy and legitimate," he said. "If you receive a phone call from an online retailer, hang up and check the status online directly through their website. Never give any of your account, personal, payment, or purchase info to anyone who asks for it over the phone."
Protect Your Identity
Criminals are after the identities of consumers so they can sell personal and financial information on the dark web, which acts like a marketplace for the sale of information such as social security numbers and passwords.
"Your identity is the most powerful thing you have and criminals will do anything to get it," Hanson said. "Consumers must stay vigilant at all times, especially if they are moving quickly to capitalize on a great price."
Avid online shoppers like the ease it provides such as storing financial information on a store's website, saving login information to web browsers and reusing passwords for multiple accounts.
But consumers are actually exposing themselves to cyber criminals, Darren Guccione, CEO of Keeper Security, a Chicago-based provider of cybersecurity software, told TheStreet.
"Another big mistake shoppers make is using a debit card instead of a credit card, the latter of which offers more protections and less risk in the event of your information being stolen," he said. "Having multiple online shopping accounts means you should have a strong and unique password for each and every one. They should be stored in a password manager to provide easy access while creating another layer of security to protect against bad actors."
