GREENSBORO, N.C. — Amazon’s Prime Day kicked off Monday morning with hard to beat prices on a wide variety of items like clothing, bedding, laptops and headphones.
Experts say it’s important for shoppers participating in the two-day event keep their eye out for scammers.
Lechelle Yates, Director of Communications at the Better Business Bureau of Central and Northwest North Carolina, said consumers need to be careful about what they click.
She said when making lots of purchases its easy to lose track of items purchased or where they were bought.
This can make shoppers fall victim to phishing scams.
A phishing scam is when a scammer sends an email that looks like it could be from Amazon and direct the shopper to a link to click, but it’s really a fake webpage looking to steal personal information.
“One that’s actually been going around is someone who appears to be from Amazon and they’re asking for things like account information, credit card information,” Yates said.
“You could get emails, texts and phone calls form very different people posing as various different retailers.”
The BBB also said customers should look out for false advertising and phony websites.
The company said con artists often create lookalike websites that at first glance appear to belong to a trusted retailer.
Yates said there are some big giveaways.
“Could be grammar,” Yates explained.
“One of the other things to look for is the URL. It’s going to be very close to the real URL. So, an example may be ‘www.popularwebsite,’ but the scam URL could be something like ‘popularwebsiteonline.com.’”
Yates said it’s always best to make online purchases with a credit card because it offers maximum protection.
Consumers get 90 days to dispute a charge if they order something and the product doesn’t arrive or if the product arrives and it’s not the product they ordered.
More Online Shopping Tips
- Consider the price. While amazon can offer discounts on Prime Day, experts say some items like gaming consoles are cheaper other times of the year like Black Friday.
- Double check reviews. A recent study found that one-third of Amazon reviews were fake. Websites like Fakespot.com can help spot suspect write-ups.
- Shop around. Big retailers like Walmart, Target, and Kohl’s are also rolling out discounts during Prime Day. Websites like camelcamelcamel.com track the price of every product sold on Amazon and later you when the price drops.