This WhatsApp scam offers 99 pct discount on Amazon! How to tell it's a fraud

Ahead of Black Friday sales in the UK, there are many sale offers are doing the rounds. In the run up to the mega sale event in US, several Amazon scams have been circulating, and the latest one is making the rounds on WhatsApp, claiming to offer huge discounts on Amazon, said a report.

Users need to understand about the WhatsApp message that indicate that it’s a scam. Image source: Reuters

WhatsApp users beware! Scams abound everywhere and scamsters are after the most important part of your presence online - your personal data, passwords even credit card details in the guise of Amazon sale. A shocking new scam has surfaced in the UK that should put even WhatsApp users on alert here in India as they too may end up losing money if they fall victim to such hoaxes. Notably, it even has a link to India as it mentions Flipkart's Big Billion Days sale.

Ahead of Black Friday sales in the UK, there are many sale offers are doing the rounds. In the run up to the mega sale event in US, several Amazon scams have been circulating, and the latest one is making the rounds on WhatsApp, claiming to offer huge discounts on Amazon, said a report.

According to the report on Mirror, the offer claims to provide up to 99% off of products, and invites users to ‘Shop Now’ by clicking on an accompanying link. If buyers click the link, which they should not, they are directed to a fake Amazon page, which shows deals for ridiculously low prices.

On selection of one of these products, buyers will reportedly be prompted to enter personal information, including name, address and email address. If you proceed to place the order, a pop-up will instruct you to forward the message on to 10 friends, ensuring the scam spreads, said the report.

One of the users tweeted Amazon about the scam, and the website stated to have been working on shutting it down, saying “Thanks for flagging this issue. I've already shared this with the concerned team internally. Please don't share your order/account/personal details in such websites.”

@amazon @AmazonHelp @amazonIN @amazonnews Bringing this to your notice the scam going around Whatsapp.. it’s a big scam or some fraud (fake websites trying to cheat innocent people) @MumbaiPolice sir plz look into the matter @CPMumbaiPolice pic.twitter.com/DuTLwX11NV

— Darryl Edison (@darryl_edison) November 13, 2018

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How to identify a WhatsApp scam:

Users need to understand about the WhatsApp message that indicate that it’s a scam.

According to Mirror, it contains several grammatical and spelling errors, including ‘upto’, and odd capitalised letters.

Further, buyers should know that the link also features the slogan ‘Big Billion Day’, which is the Flipkart equivalent of Black Friday, and not a term used by Amazon.

Buyers should make sure that they are wary of any suspicious messages, and flag anything they come across to WhatsApp.

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