NEW YORK—The holiday season is the prime time for fraudsters looking to take advantage of distracted, frenzied shoppers, cautions security expert Adam Levin, who details a growing attack on consumers this December.
“Consumers are worried about protecting their data because of the spike in hack attacks, phishing schemes and scams. Despite the festivities and spirit of giving, it is becoming more difficult for consumers to avoid the bad guys in a dangerous digital world,” Levin said.
Levin warned of a growing scam from fraudsters claiming to be from Amazon. He said the crooks send a phishing email to the consumer stating there is a “problem’ with their order. To resolve the issue, the email asks customers to confirm “certain information” by clicking on a link. Otherwise, they will not be able to access their Amazon account.
“This directs people to a fake website, where they are required to input in personal and account information,” Levin said. “When customers have entered in their details, they are asked to click a ‘Save & Continue’ button. This then takes them to Amazon’s official website, again making it difficult for most people to suspect of any fraudulent activity.”