A new phishing email is presently being circulated that attempts to lure you into clicking on links and provide personal information that can be used to make you a victim of identity theft.  Alternatively, merely by clicking on the links in some phishing emails, you may unwittingly download malware that will steal personal information from your computer or other device and use it to make you a victim of identity theft.  Even if you have the most updated versions of security software protecting your computer, laptop or smartphone you may not be protected from zero day exploits which is the name for the latest malware targeting vulnerabilities that have not yet been protected against by your security software.  It generally takes up to a month for the security software companies to provide patches for the latest strains of malware.

TIPS

In regard to this particular phishing email, there are a number of telltale signs that indicate that it is a scam.  Although the graphics are excellent, the email is not directed to you personally, but rather uses the generic salutation of “Dear Amazon.com Customer.”  In addition, there are numerous grammatical errors that could be attributable to the scammer possibly not having English as his or her primary language.  Also, the email address from which the email was sent was not from Amazon, but from an unrelated individual.  Most likely the email address used was that of another victim whose computer was hijacked and used as a part of a botnet to spread the phishing emails.  Of course, the best course of action is to never click on links or provide information in response to emails or text messages unless you have absolutely confirmed that the request is legitimate.  In this case, a quick telephone call to Amazon would have resulted in your quickly learning that the email was a scam.