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Scammers love a sale, and Amazon Prime Day is one of the biggest sales of them all – here’s what to watch out for while snapping up a bargain!
Amazon Prime Day is coming next week, and with shoppers hungry for a bargain, come scammers hungry for profit. Here’s some advice and tips from experts that will help you stay safe and secure.
Joshua McKenty
Co-founder and CEO of Polyguard
It’s the season of Nemesis Prime, an evil clone of Optimus Prime in the Transformers universe, who makes insidious scam attacks on Amazon customers across text, email, and voice – often based on shipping and returns, refunds, account expiry, tariffs, or even claims your account has been hacked. These scams aren’t last year’s models, so don’t expect spelling mistakes or funky attachments. Nemesis is AI-powered and fueled by recent data breaches. They may know your name, your address – even your shoe size!
Protect yourself by checking your Prime membership now, and make sure your address is set correctly and you have a good payment method saved.
Set up a good call-blocking tool on your mobile phone, or consider setting “unknown numbers go to voicemail”. Add the real Prime support number to your contact list, and bookmark the real Amazon.com website.
Finally, warn your family members. Let them know that you’ll be “Prime timing” it and that they should ignore any emails or text messages related to Prime, shipping, returns, or refunds. And never buy a gift card for a stranger.
Dr Darren Williams
Founder and CEO at BlackFog
Amazon Prime Day is a goldmine for cyber criminals. The surge in promotional emails, limited-time offers, and high-volume online activity creates ideal conditions for phishing, malware delivery, and fraudulent transactions. What often begins as a simple consumer scam, like a fake delivery notification or a spoofed Amazon deal, can quickly escalate into credential theft and data exfiltration that puts entire enterprises at risk.
In fact, the retail sector saw a 96 per cent increase in ransomware attacks last year, underscoring how aggressively threat actors are targeting consumer-facing industries. We’re also seeing year-over-year growth in spoofed domains and malicious apps impersonating Amazon and its delivery partners. These threats don’t just exploit individual shoppers; they compromise trust in digital infrastructure.
As Prime Day approaches, both consumers and businesses need to heighten their vigilance. Be cautious of emails from unfamiliar or slightly altered domains, avoid clicking on promotional links directly from messages, and verify the legitimacy of apps before downloading. Ensuring devices are up to date and security solutions are active is essential, but so is educating users to spot the social engineering tactics that drive these attacks. Cyber criminals are counting on speed and distraction; security requires attention to detail and a zero-trust mindset.
Julien Richard
VP of InfoSec of Lastwall
Amazon Prime Day isn’t just a shopping event – it’s an opportunity for attackers. Most of us have seen at least one suspicious or fake email. Maybe it’s a delivery notice, a message from a trusted brand, or a vague work request with just enough urgency to make someone act before thinking. These used to be easier to spot. Now, they’re evolving.
The next wave of phishing is more subtle. A short note saying your package has arrived might not raise any red flags, especially around Prime Day. But it still gets the click. That’s the point. Attackers aren’t just spoofing big brands anymore; they’re mimicking the tone, timing, and casual language of real people. AI is making that easier – not to sound perfect, just believable enough.
These emails won’t look suspicious; they’ll look like a regular Tuesday. The usual advice still applies, but vigilance matters more than ever. Here’s how to stay safe:
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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