Mississauga and Brampton residents are being targeted by a new Amazon Prime scam, Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has shared. It comes in the form of a text message asking the victim to visit a website to make a missed payment. Amazon has also asked residents targeted by this scam to report it on the company website.
A new phishing text message scam has been uncovered in Mississauga and Brampton which uses the popular e-commerce platform, Amazon, to disguise itself. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has informed that residents of the area have been receiving text messages stating that their last payment for Amazon Prime failed and that they need to website to update their information.
This is a phishing scam where the scammer is trying to get personal or banking information from an unsuspecting Amazon Prime customer. The link sent by the scammer may even look like the official Amazon website, but it is not. Visiting the webpage could lead to malware being downloaded on your device.
Amazon also warns its users that it will never send an unsolicited message asking for personal information like bank account numbers, credit card information, passwords, social security number, tax ID, or ID questions. It also states that if you do get a request to update your payment information, head over to the official Amazon website and log in to your account. “If you’re not prompted to update your payment method on that screen, the message isn’t from Amazon,” says the ecommerce company.
The text message comes with a link which may open to an official-looking Amazon page. Credit: InSauga
In case you receive such a text message, report it to Amazon by heading to its “Report Something Suspicious” page and following the options.
Similar SMS phishing scams have been on the rise and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre provides the necessary information on these scams so that residents can stay alert.