Amazon has added a new feature to Alexa for Shopping to combat fraudulent messages sent in the company’s name. Users will be able to ask the assistant about an email, text message or phone call they have received; in addition to comparing the message against a record of all messages sent by Amazon, the system will analyze its content, formatting and sender. Alexa for Shopping will confirm that a message is genuine only when it is “completely certain.” In Amazon’s example, the user asks, “Did Amazon just send me an OTP message from 98626? The message arrived at around 4:50pm”; the assistant says it is a genuine Amazon One Time Password. If the message is not from Amazon, it will ask the user to check their orders in the app and contact the support team directly. Earlier this year, Amazon also launched a similar feature that allows suspicious messages to be verified by forwarding them to “verify@amazon.com.” Alexa for Shopping has also added the “Update Me When” feature, which tracks new product launches.
Why it matters
This step enables users to compare fraud attempts impersonating Amazon against the company’s own records, rather than relying solely on the appearance of the message or the sender information. Messages concerning account access and one-time passwords are particularly sensitive situations in which users may have to make quick decisions, so moving verification to the assistant could make the process easier. However, the system’s requirement to approve a message only when it is completely certain does not eliminate users’ responsibility when messages cannot be confirmed; users still need to check their orders in the app and contact the support team directly. The key question that remains, therefore, is how quickly and accurately users will be guided when messages cannot be verified. While the new feature supports the identification of fake messages, it preserves the need to check through official channels.