A new scam phishing scheme is targeting Amazon Prime customers.
Scammers have sent an email to victims claiming that they have signed up for an Amazon Music subscription. They will then be charged monthly. The email contains a link that allows users to cancel their subscription. This directs them to enter their credit card details to cancel and get a refund. This scam is unfortunately being used by many.
Katherine Hart, Lead Officer of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute says that “Due to COVID-19 pandemic people are spending more time at their homes and more people use internet platforms to shop than ever before.” Although phishing scams that target Amazon users have been around for some time, the current crisis has made them even more vulnerable.
Reminder: Never click on any email like this. Log in to your Amazon account and contact customer service directly.
This is only one of the millions of phishing email currently in circulation. Phishing Box reports that 64% of organizations experienced a Phishing Attack in Q1 2020, and 90% of breaches involved phishing.
What is a Phishing Email? A phishing email is the most dangerous online threat. Cybercriminals attempt to trick you by sending fake emails that look authentic. This is done to infect your computer and steal your credentials.
These tell-tale signs can help you quickly spot a phishing message:
Does the email ask for sensitive information? Legitimate companies will not ask for passwords, credit card information, or credit scores via email. It’s likely that you will be scammed if you receive an email asking for this information, particularly if it isn’t requested.
Is it your name on the email? It’s likely phishing email if the email addresses you as either a valued member, an account member, or customer. Legitimate companies will use your name to address you.
Double-check the domain name. To verify that there have been no alterations, hover your mouse over the “from” address. You should also look out for public domain names. No legitimate company will contact you through an email address like ‘@gmail.com.
What about the grammar? A legitimate company will only send you a well-written email. It’s more likely that the email is phishing if it contains multiple misspellings or grammatical errors.
Be careful with links To see the URL, hover your mouse over it before clicking the link. A few words of caution: Phishing emails can be created entirely using hyperlinks by cybercriminals. Be careful not to click on them!
Is there an attached file? Unsolicited emails with attachments should be suspicious as they could contain malware or viruses. You should be on the lookout to find high-risk file types such as.exe and.com. To confirm that the company is legitimate, contact them by phone if you even have an inkling of something not right.
Do you feel a sense of urgency or urgency? Cybercriminals will often ask you to “act now” in order to get you to click the link or download an attachment. They don’t want you checking the legitimacy of the email. This is particularly effective at work.
Here’s what to do if you click on a poor link or enter your credentials:
It should be reported immediately to your supervisor or Premier Networx if it happened on your work device.
Change your password immediately to your email. Never use a password that is identical to the one you used before. If your password is Password1, don’t change it to Password1.
- Multi-Factor authentication is an additional layer of protection that you should use if you haven’t used it before.
- To make sure that the cybercriminal doesn’t send any malicious emails to your contacts, check your sent folder.
You should check the rules in your Outlook App and on your Web App. This will ensure that hackers don’t have persistence access to your account even if you change your password. You should look for rules you don’t remember making, rules that show any mail coming to your inbox, send it to delete/junk folders and forwarding rules that will direct email from your inbox into an address you do not recognize.