Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 9
Amazon Adds Alexa Scam Checks for 360,000 U.S. Customer Inquiries a Year
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 9

Amazon Adds Alexa Scam Checks for 360,000 U.S. Customer Inquiries a Year

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 9

Summary

  • U.S. customers can now ask Alexa for Shopping whether a suspicious text, email or phone call actually came from Amazon, adding a new anti-scam tool inside the company’s shopping assistant.
  • Amazon says about 360,000 customers contact its service teams each year to verify messages; the Alexa feature compares details such as sender, content, timing and formatting against Amazon’s own communication records.
  • If Alexa finds a match, it confirms the message and can offer account-security guidance; if not, it warns the communication does not appear official, and uncertain cases can be checked through other Amazon channels.
  • Amazon said submissions through the tool are automatically sent to its customer protection and enforcement team, which can use them to spot broader impersonation campaigns.
  • The rollout comes as AI-driven fraud, including voice mimicry and deepfakes, makes Amazon-branded delivery, refund and account-warning scams more convincing.

Insights

Could relying on Alexa to verify suspicious messages actually trick you into falling for a sophisticated scam?
Is Amazon's new AI scam checker designed to protect shoppers or just to replace human customer support?