Amazon: the Alexa for Shopping AI can spot scam emails and SMS

Amazon has announced a new feature designed to fight scams: starting today (but only in the United States) you can directly ask Alexa for Shopping, the company’s shopping AI assistant, whether an email, an SMS or a call you received really came from Amazon.

Each year about 360,000 customers contact support to ask whether a message they received is authentic, a doubt that scammers regularly exploit to their advantage.

The operation of this new feature is straightforward and consists of three steps: the user describes to Alexa the details of the message received, such as origin, time and content; the tool compares this information with the archive of all messages actually sent by Amazon, analyzing sender, content, timing and formatting; finally, in a few seconds, the assistant provides a clear answer.

Alexa for Shopping confirms the authenticity of a message only when it is completely certain: in an example shared by Amazon, a customer asks “Amazon did you just send me an SMS with a code OTP from the number 98626? The message arrived around 16:50”, and the assistant responds confirming that it is indeed “an authentic one-time password sent by Amazon”.

There are essentially three possible responses, based on the situation: if the message is confirmed, the system checks the sender, date and time and adds security tips; if the message is not from Amazon, the assistant advises checking orders directly in the app and contacting official support.

In cases where it is not possible to reach certainty, Alexa for Shopping suggests alternative verification methods. Each verification request is also automatically reported to Amazon’s dedicated customer protection and anti-fraud team.

The feature integrated into Alexa for Shopping complements a tool launched earlier this year by Amazon: the ability to forward a suspicious message to the address verify@amazon.com, available globally and usable without an account, in addition to a dedicated verification form on the customer service site.

Only in the United States for now, awaiting expansion to other markets

At the moment the new verification function via Alexa for Shopping is available exclusively in the United States. Amazon has stated its intention to extend it to other regions in the future, without giving a precise timeline: it is therefore not yet clear when, and possibly with what modalities, the function could arrive also in Italy or the rest of Europe.