What to know

• Amazon's Alexa for Shopping can now verify whether emails, texts, and calls claiming to be from Amazon are genuine by comparing them against the company's message database and analyzing multiple authenticity signals.
• 360,000 Amazon customers annually contact support asking whether messages are real, indicating the scale of customer confusion around impersonation scams.
• The feature complements Amazon's earlier verify@amazon.com email verification service and online form, expanding the company's anti-scam toolkit.
• Alexa for Shopping has shifted to a shopping-focused strategy, adding features like deal sourcing, product alerts, and shopping list transcription alongside this security capability.

“Amazon is trying to combat impersonation scams with a new feature that allows you to use its AI assistant to determine whether an email, text message, or phone call actually came from the company.”

Emma Roth, The Verge reporter · The Verge

Amazon Retailer and AI developer