Experts warn Amazon Prime members of scammers

CHICAGO - It is Amazon Prime Day and that means deals and discounts, and scammers. Experts are warning people to be careful as you click away and shop.

FOX 32 spoke to a cyber-security firm who told us in the last month leading up to Prime Day that there has been a 20 percent increase in the number of domain names purchased related to the word "Amazon" that are malicious and suspicious.

Now, that firm is advising Prime Members to be careful where they click.

“If the deal is too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true,” said Kierk Sanderlin of Check Point Software Technologies.

Shoppers should be careful clicking on any so-called "deals" that come via links in emails.

“If you receive an email saying click this link fast to connect to Amazon to get this special deal that's going to elapse very quickly, hackers may be fishing,” Sanderlin said.

It is better to type in "Amazon.com" by hand and double check how "Amazon" is spelled in your browser.

“It could be ‘Amazon.co’ or an ‘s’ instead of a ‘z’ -- but the actual Amazon site is misspelled,” Sanderlin said.

He reminds Prime Members to always check for the padlock icon at the top-left corner of your browser, and to remember what info you should never need to share to complete a purchase.

“An online retailer will never ask for your social security number when you're making a purchase. They'll never ask for your date of birth. All they need is your credit card number, billing address and your name,” Sanderlin said.

Last reminder he has for Prime Members who have not already done so: make sure the card linked to your account is a credit card and not a debit card. Credit cards have way more protections built in, in the event of a scam.