Ever find yourself unsure whether an email from Amazon is real or not? You can now ask Alexa for Shopping to check whether it’s a scam. The newly launched AI feature will use a database of billions of messages sent by Amazon’s team to verify whether an email, phone call, message, or text is from an official source.
The brand announced the new feature in a blog post on Sept. 2, saying it wanted to help the over 360,000 customers who contact Amazon customer service with similar queries each year. Amazon also likely wants to alleviate some of the strain on its support department, too.
“Scammers thrive when customers can't easily verify whether a message is real,” said Scott Knapp, vice president of worldwide buyer risk prevention at Amazon. “That’s why we built a tool to put certainty directly in customers’ hands, in real time, when they need it most. It’s part of our broader commitment to educate and empower customers and protect them against scams.”
To use this feature, you can head to the chatbot within the Amazon Shopping app or on its website, and ask it directly about a message. An example in Amazon’s marketing sees the user write, “Did amazon just text me an OTP from 986626? Message came around 4:50pm.”
Amazon’s AI will then check details against its own records, using the sender's information, message content, metadata, formatting, and message timing to make a decision. If it’s real, it will respond with “Yes, this message is an official Amazon communication.”
Amazon says, “The tool only confirms a message is real when it’s completely certain.” If it isn’t, it will ask you to use an alternative verification path. If it’s proven not to be from Amazon, it will walk you through how to report the message, including advice not to click any links and steps to ensure your account's safety.
The AI may also suggest sending the communication to verify@amazon.com, which can also be used as an alternative way to report a message. Anyone can use that email address, even if they’re not an Amazon customer, to see where a message came from.