Shoppers Should Stay Vigilant Amid Amazon U.K., DHL Australia Incidences, Experts Say

Drawing of smartphone with scam written on the screen.

All online shoppers should stay vigilant given recent warnings from Amazon U.K. and DHL Australia, two US cybersecurity experts told Kiplinger.

In an email communication seen by Kiplinger, Amazon alerted its U.K. customers about recent scam tactics targeting users. The company said that scammers are getting more creative and that they constantly devise new schemes, exploit new technologies and change tactics to avoid detection.

Specifically, Amazon warnings concerned prime membership as well as account suspension or deletion scams in which customers are fraudulently called, texted or emailed. Both are aimed at obtaining account login credentials or payment information, the company said in the email. In the Prime case, customers were told of a fee or issue with their membership. In the account suspension or deletion case, customers were told that their account would be suspended or deleted if they did not click a link or verbally provide information to verify their account.

Amazon said that it will never ask users to provide payment information for products and services by phone and that customers should visit the website’s message center or use their app to review authentic communications from Amazon.

In an emailed response to Kiplinger, an Amazon spokesperson said that the company sends scam awareness emails periodically while providing scam awareness information in other channels. 

“Scammers that attempt to impersonate Amazon put consumers at risk,” the spokesperson said. “We encourage consumers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe.” The spokesperson encouraged customers to visit Amazon’s help pages for information on how to identify scams and report them.

The Amazon alert is similar to one DHL sent to its customers in Australia on June 28. DHL said that customers with online logins may receive emails stating that their package could not be delivered and ask to provide login information to check the status.

Australians lost an estimated $3.1 billion to scams in 2022, an 80% increase from 2021, according to a report released by the  National Anti-Scam Centre in April.

Large retailers are regular targets

Scamming is a big business and fraudsters regularly impersonate large retailers, experts say. Bryan Hornung, Founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm Xact IT Solutions, told Kiplinger that cybercriminals use events such as these to catch people off guard. He noted that Amazon’s notification to U.K. users comes less than two weeks after its two-day Prime Day event. 

“With the increase of social engineering attacks, also known as phishing attacks, retailers like Amazon are taking precautions with warning their customers before incidents happen,” Caroline Wong, chief strategy officer at cybersecurity company Cobalt, told Kiplinger. “This is a standard procedure and a great way to establish trust because it shows organizations are aware of the latest tactics and are trying to protect and care for their customers' sensitive information.”

According to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, consumers lost nearly $55 billion to scammers worldwide last year while the number of scams reported to law enforcement grew to more than 300 million. The group advises consumers to beware because these numbers continue to grow as more transactions are completed online.