Amazon Prime Day – Staying Safe Online
It’s that time of year again.
Amazon Prime Day.
Amazon’s yearly event plays host to a wide variety of excellent deals for televisions, clothes, smart home devices, cool gadgets and tech, toys and so much more. Millions of people flock to the website in order to catch themselves a bargain – but consumers aren’t the only people that love it.
Cybercriminals adore events like Prime Day, as they can guarantee that a huge number of people will be visiting certain sites at certain times, which means they have a larger selection of people to try and scam. As a spike in internet traffic to any site is a certain guarantee on special sales days, hackers know when and where consumers could be sharing their personal information.
Not to fear! Nouveau know all about how cybercriminals try to exploit events such as Prime Day and Black Friday, and the scams are relatively easy to avoid (if you know how to!).
It’s the Amazon, but not the one we’re talking about!
A primary method that cybercriminals use in order to access payment information and account login details, is by using phishing emails. Cybercriminals can make an email look like it has come from Amazon themselves, using official branding, font types, specific deals and more in order to trick consumers into clicking the email and typing in their important information. This isn’t Amazon’s fault, however, and it happens to a wide range of different companies. It’s common place to find a phishing email in your inbox every now and then – they will always manage to find their way through even the most advanced mail filters – but if you know what to look for, they are easy to manage.
For this reason, we here at Nouveau recommend reading our 6 Tips and Tricks to Avoid Phishing Scams blog post, where you can find out the best ways to prevent yourself becoming a victim of cybercrime. We also suggest that you access Amazon’s site directly to shop for deals and treat all emails with caution in order to keep yourself safe. If you receive an email from ‘Amazon’ offering an awesome deal, head over to the site manually and search for the item yourself. That way you will know if the deal is real or not, and it’s always best to play it safe. Another tip is to change your password regularly, and if you have just bought something online, now is a better time than any to change it just for that peace of mind.
With practice, you can easily become a pro at spotting phishing emails. Just remember to read our blog to get yourself started!
