by Jess Nelson , August 25, 2017

A new email-based phishing scam is proliferating on the internet, targeting consumers who participated in Amazon Prime Day last month.

Amazon’s third annual summer sale extravaganza was the ecommerce giant’s biggest sales event ever, surpassing the revenue generated from the company’s record-breaking 2016 Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Prime Day sales rose more than 60% year-over-year worldwide, and more than 50% year-over-year in the United States.

Prime Day’s booming popularity wasn’t just good news for Amazon, however, as the promotion also caught the attention of cybercriminals who are now attempting to hijack the sales day for their own malicious purposes.

An email phishing scam has been targeting Amazon Prime subscribers this week, thanking them for participating in Amazon Prime Day and requesting they write a review for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate. The email initially appears to be authentic, and even mimics the email templates of official Amazon outreach.

When an unknowing consumer clicks on the link contained in the email, they are directed to a phishing website designed to steal username and password details. Once a scammer has those details, they can then easily log on to an Amazon account and learn even more identifiable information, such as home address and financial details.

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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