Rumors are circulating that Amazon may create its own cryptocurrency. There hasn’t been any confirmation from official sources that these rumors are true. However, the truth hasn’t stopped cybercriminals from taking advantage of these rumors.
Cybercriminals are running social media ads that spoof well-known news sites such as CNBC and Yahoo! Finance. The ads claim that Amazon has opened presales for their “Amazon Token” and link to a fake Amazon website. The convincing website includes a roadmap outlining the release of the token, details about Amazon Prime integration, and a countdown to when the presale will end. If you try to buy an Amazon Token, you’ll be sending your money straight to the cybercriminals and receive nothing in return.
Follow these tips to stay safe from similar scams:
Before clicking on an ad, hover over the link to preview where the link will take you. For example, one Amazon Token ad led to amz-token[dot]presale-tokens[dot]cc. This address is not a legitimate website, because it is not using the official Amazon[dot]com domain.
Watch for poor grammar and misspellings. While the fake Amazon Token website looked great, it had a number of errors, such as “TOKENS AVAILABLEN” and “You can contribute AMZ token go through Buy Token page.”
Cryptocurrencies have a range of different origins, structures, and intended uses. Before investing in a coin, do your research about that coin by reviewing multiple well-known and trusted sources.
