Amazon Prime Day 2019: the hustlers should be aware

• Amazon will go through 48 business hours for Prime Day 2019, but all this Internet traffic will also attract fraudsters seeking to steal information from buyers.
• Consumers looking for a good deal should check if the emails they supposedly received from Amazon came from the retailer.
• Buyers should consider using two-factor authentication and virtual private networks to ensure that their information is encrypted and secure.

Amazon Prime Day will begin Monday with 48 business hours for tens of millions of Amazon Prime consumers, but the surge in Internet traffic may also attract fraudsters seeking to steal your data and credit card information. .

"Consumers should proceed with caution," said Monique Becenti, product and channel specialist at SiteLock. "Marked holidays in discount stores mean that cyber criminals have plenty of opportunities to try and steal information."

Buyers should consider adding additional security measures, such as two-factor authentication and virtual private networks, that make it more difficult for fraudsters to steal your data. Fraudsters usually sell personal information to dark web criminals. In the wrong hands, this information can be used by hackers to access other login credentials, such as bank accounts, increasing the risk of asset theft and identity theft.

Here are four scams that buyers should watch from the first day of this year, July 15th and 16th:

Falsified sites

Buyers should access Amazon.com directly from their browser, rather than email or a link, experts said. Indeed, fraudulent links can redirect consumers to websites designed to look like Amazon, but which are actually fake and are designed to steal your credit card data. If you encounter a parodied Amazon site, you can report it to the Federal Trade Commission.

"If something goes wrong, it's probably not good," said SiteLock's Becenti.

Buyers who use two-factor authentication on Amazon (which you can activate here) will be asked to provide their contact information before continuing their visit to the site. If they do not receive the usual prompt, the red flag indicates that the site is not authentic.

Malicious Redirection of Coupon Codes

Amazon offers coupons on the first day, which means that some fraudsters will copy this technique in the hope that buyers will click on their dummy discount offers. Be wary of emails, including coupons, that promise big discounts on Prime Day, as these coupons are more likely to redirect buyers to a spoofed site. Once the buyer tries to complete a fake purchase, scammers can collect a wealth of personal information.

Gift card scams

Another common scam concerns Amazon gift cards. Scammers usually contact victims on the phone to convince them that they have a debt and then ask them to buy Amazon gift cards online or at a nearby pharmacy. Fraudsters will ask the victim to provide the claim code on the gift card and then disappear.

Phishing Marketing Campaigns by Email

Buyers should be on the lookout for fraudulent emails. The crooks will create emails that claim to come from Amazon or another trusted site, but that ask consumers to disclose their social security numbers, their tax IDs or their bank account numbers. Amazon, however, will never request such sensitive data via email.

Fortunately, there is a quick fix. Always check the source of the email for the email address @ amazon.com. If the email address comes from another shipper, it must be reported and immediately reported to the FTC.