With millions of us heading online to do our festive shopping this year cyber criminals are trying to cash in. An urgent warning was issued late last week due to an explosion in scams targeting consumers via fake delivery alerts which try and trick people into handing over personal data. Now it seems the famous Amazon brand is being used by thieves and falling for it could leave your account at risk of attack.
The latest threat, which has been spotted by Express.co.uk, is attempting to frighten Amazon shoppers with an email that claims that their account is about to be terminated. It’s a subject line that’s sure to grab people’s attention especially as the email appears to have come from an official Amazon account.
Once opened, the message states that all orders placed on the shopping site have been locked and nothing will be delivered until immediate action is taken.
The email says that this is due to a problem with the billing information that has been supplied to the firm. Customers are then urged to click on a link to update their account and resolve any issues to continue shopping.
It all appears very official with the email featuring Amazon branding and the link taking users to an official-looking sign-in page.
However, don’t be fooled!
Having seen the message, Express.co.uk can confirm that it’s fake and getting tricked will leave account details in the hands of thieves. Although the email appears to have been sent by Amazon it’s easy to see that the real address has nothing to do with the retailer.
The embedded link that users are then taken to also features a web address that is not part of Amazon.
With so many people having Amazon accounts it’s easy to what hackers are using the firm to try and cash in and any emails you weren’t expecting from them should always be opened with caution.
“If you receive an email claiming to be from Amazon that seems suspicious, it may be a phishing email,” Amazon said on its security page.
“A phishing email appears to be from a reputable source, but in reality it is sent from an outside party attempting to access your personal information by getting you to open an attachment containing malware or click on a link that redirects to a potentially dangerous website.
“Some phishing emails may even contain a link to a website that looks like Amazon.com, but is not a legitimate site. The website may ask for your Amazon username and password or try to install unwanted software on your computer. If you receive a message like this, you should delete it without opening any attachments or clicking any links.”
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