Beware of fake Amazon site scams as Prime Day approaches

Amazon Prime Day is just around the corner on Tuesday, July 16 and Wednesday, July 17. But as you start gearing up to hunt for bargains, be aware that fraudsters are looking to take advantage of you.

Here’s one method that’s growing popular: fraudsters are creating fake Amazon lookalike websites to lure shoppers, and they’re hooking victims with phishing emails that promise enticing Amazon offers.

According to Sectank, over a thousand new Amazon-related domains were reportedly created in June 2024 alone, and about 85 percent of them are classified as malicious or at least suspicious.

These fraudulent sites usually ask you to log in with your Amazon account—but when you do, they capture your login credentials, take over your account, and either make purchases or sell your personal data.

Scammers try to gain your trust by registering official-sounding domains that may seem Amazon-related at first glance. For example, “amazon-onboarding,” “shopamazon,” “amazon-billing,” or “connect-amazon.”

They may also use country identifiers to imitate region-specific Amazon stores, except they’re really just .com addresses.

How to protect yourself against fake Amazon phishing sites

Pay special attention to all emails that arrive in your inbox. Even if they appear legitimate, you have to double-check and triple-check every detail to ensure you aren’t looking at a copycat.

Official emails from Amazon or Amazon-affiliated partners shouldn’t contain any spelling mistakes and will never ask you for login details or other sensitive information.

To be safe, hover over every link and make sure the destination URL points to an official Amazon site. Or, to be even safer, never click links in emails. Always navigate manually to sites by typing the domain straight into your web browser.

When you visit a website, always look for “HTTPS” at the start of the URL. This indicates that your connection is encrypted and that the website is actually who they say they are.

Lastly, check every offer carefully before you buy. If the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. That’s how scammers can get you, like they do with the Amazon triangle scam.