Amazon and 65ymás, the Spanish digital media outlet, are working together to raise awareness among older consumers about how to shop safely online in Spain and avoid scams.
The scam prevention campaign started just before Black Friday 2024 with an aim to educate and protect senior shoppers during the busiest shopping period of the year.
Upon launch, the campaign featured educational articles and reached an online audience of around 50,000 people—including advice from law enforcement experts, cybersecurity, banking, and e-commerce. 65ymás and Amazon also hosted an expert panel discussion on “How to shop safely online,” which was broadcast on 65ymás’ YouTube channel. The articles included information on how to identify online scams, tips on how to avoid scams, the most common scams to be aware of and how to avoid them, and an interview with the Head of Customer Experience Integrity, Customer Trust at Amazon, Abigail Bishop.
Experts come together to raise awareness of online scams
65ymás journalist Pablo Recio moderated the panel discussion, which featured: Public Policy Lead, Customer Trust at Amazon, Cristina Cartes Andres; Director of Information Protection at CaixaBank, Nathalie de Seras; Head of Cybersecurity for Citizens and Businesses at INCIBE, Manuel Ransán; and a national police officer of the Greater Security Unit Plan.
Throughout the panel, the industry experts advised consumers to:
- Avoid making purchases via links in emails or SMS
- Avoid clicking on links or providing any information without verifying the sender
- Be wary of excessively low offers and false urgency; avoid using public wi-fi when making purchases online
- Use secure payment methods and intermediaries like PayPal; and never giving bank details over the phone
Seras specifically warned of the increase in scams on dates such as Black Friday and Christmas, estimating a rise of 15% to 20% during the busiest shopping season of the year.
Amazon provided information on what we saw during peak season 2023, that the two scams most reported by Amazon customers in Spain were related to (1) fake orders and (2) fake account issues. The method of contact these scammers used was mostly by phone, email, or text message. In Spain, the most reported scams by Amazon customers during 2023 were related to fake orders.
Protecting consumers from scammers impersonating Amazon is an important part of our approach to creating a trustworthy shopping experience. Amazon regularly collaborates with organizations like 65ymás to help spread awareness about scam identification and prevention, partnering with industry leaders and law enforcement agencies to develop solutions and take joint action against bad actors. To provide information on how to verify if the messages are coming from Amazon or a bad actor, we regularly publish the latest scam trends to alert customers.
“We share Amazon’s commitment to protecting seniors in the digital environment,” said Fernando Ónega, president of 65ymás.
The mission of 65ymás.com has always been to empower seniors with useful and practical information, and this alliance with Amazon enables us to strengthen our readers’ security when shopping online. Fraud prevention is a priority, and together we can create a safer shopping environment for everyone.
How does Amazon protect shoppers from scams?
Amazon uses both technology and educational information to help identify and mitigate impersonation scams. We pursue scammers using a team of former federal prosecutors, experienced investigators, and data analysts. Leveraging innovative tools and technology alongside expert investigators, scammers are quickly identified, referred to law enforcement, and deterred from continuing their schemes.
Through continued investment in automated technology and partnership with key industry organizations, Amazon can now take down reported phishing websites in just a few hours and scam phone numbers the same day. In 2024, Amazon initiated takedowns of more than 55,000 phishing websites and 12,000 phone numbers being used for impersonation scams.
We know that online scams can impact anyone, that’s why our vision is to build a world where consumers are confident that they won’t fall prey to bad actors who impersonate our brand or anyone else’s. We believe this is the right thing to do for all customers, not just our consumers, and launching educational campaigns with organizations such as 65ymás is an important part of this mission.
To learn more about Amazon’s approach to protecting consumers from impersonation scams, visit our Scam Prevention page here.