Beware of a new phishing scam targeting Amazon Prime shoppers.
Scammers are targeting users with an email stating that they have started an Amazon Music subscription and will be charged monthly. In the email, there is a link to cancel the subscription which directs the user to input their credit card details in order to cancel and receive a refund. Unfortunately, many people are falling victim to this scam.
According to Katherine Hart, Lead Officer at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people are spending more time at home and more people are using internet platforms for shopping than ever before. Phishing scams targeting users of big platforms like Amazon have existed for a long time, but the current crisis has made them more vulnerable.“
As a reminder, whenever you receive emails like this, never click the link. Always log into your official account and contact Amazon’s customer support directly.
This is just one of millions of phishing emails that are currently circulating. According to Phishing Box, in Q1 2020 64% of organizations have experienced a phishing attack in the past year and 90% of breaches included a phishing event.
What is a phishing email? The most common online threat, a cybercriminal attempts to trick you by creating and sending fake emails, that appear to be authentic, in order to infect your computer with a virus or malware and to capture your credentials.
Quickly spot a phishing email by looking out for these tell-tale signs:
- Is the email asking for sensitive information? Legitimate companies do not request passwords, credit card information, credit scores, etc., via emails. Chances are if you get an email asking for any of this information, especially when it’s unsolicited, it’s a scam.
- Is the email addressing you by your name? If the email addresses you as ‘valued member’, ‘account member’, ‘customer’, it’s probably a phishing email. Legitimate companies have your information and will address you by your name.
- Double check the domain name! Check the email address by hovering your mouse over the ‘from’ address and go through letter by letter, number by number, to make sure there were no alterations. Also, look for public email domain names… no legitimate company is going to contact you via a ‘@gmail.com’.
- How’s the grammar? An email received by a legitimate company will be well written. If there are multiple misspellings and grammatical errors, then it’s most likely a phishing email.
- Be wary of links! Always hover over the link with your mouse to see the website before you click the link. Also as a heads up, some cyber criminals will create phishing emails that are coded entirely as a hyperlink – be careful not to click!
- Is there an attachment? If you receive an unsolicited email with an attachment, be wary as it could contain a virus or malware. Be on the lookout for high risk file types including: .exe, .com, .scr, and .zip. If you have even the slightest inkling something is off, contact that company via phone to confirm legitimacy.
- Is there a sense of urgency? Many cyber criminals will ask you to ‘act now or else’ hoping you’ll click on the link or download the attachment without checking for the legitimacy of the email. This is especially effective in the workplace.
If you click on a bad link or enter in your credentials, here’s what you need to do:
- If it occurred on your work device or with your work credentials, alert your supervisor and Premier Networx immediately.
- Immediately change your password to your email. Never make it a similar password to the old one. For example, if your password is Password1, never change it to Password1!.
- If you weren’t using Multi-Factor Authentication before, enable it immediately on all of your online accounts for an extra layer of protection.
- Check your sent folder to make sure the cybercriminal hasn’t sent any emails malicious emails to your contact list.
- Check the rules on your Outlook App as well as on your Web App. This will ensure that the cybercriminal didn’t gain persistence access even after changing your password. Look for rules you do not remember making, rules that show anything coming to the inbox, send to delete/junk folders, possible forwarding rules that direct emails from your inbox to an email address that you do not recognize.
If you have any questions regarding phishing emails, do not hesitate to reach out. You can contact your Augusta IT Guys at 706-426-6313 or Info@AugustaITGuys.com.
4332 Wheeler Road #105, Augusta GA 30907
706.426.6313
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