Amazon is the largest e-commerce platform in the world. A few days ago, it celebrated its famous savings party for premium customers, Prime Day, and millions of users took advantage of the discounts. This has led to many Spaniards receiving packages from the e-commerce site one of these days. If you haven’t thrown the box away yet, remember to protect your data before doing so.
In recent years, the purchase of products online has grown considerably. According to a study shared on Statista, approximately a quarter of total purchases are made online. In fact, turnover from e-commerce in Spain exceeded 19.5 million euros in the last quarter of 2022.
Online shopping is on the rise, especially with sales campaigns, such as the recent Prime Day. We Spaniards have become true experts when it comes to looking for great deals on the Internet. Many of us are already aware of the risks involved and only trust secure websites such as Amazon. However, we are still not aware of the dangers that can arise from getting rid of packages without removing our personal information from the labels.
We always think that containers are places where Amazon boxes will never see the light of day again. Or, at least, that if someone finds them, they won’t pay attention to the data they contain. But nothing could be further from the truth. Although we are already used to cybercriminals and tactics such as phishing, sometimes we don’t realize how easy it is for scammers when we throw away the packages of our online purchases.
What is dumpster diving?
The term dumpster diving is a method that cybercriminals sometimes resort to. Not everyone who rummages through trash does so to put food in their mouth or to find clothes or other items. There are criminals who try to find the data of careless users who do not remove the labels from the Amazon packages they dispose of.
The stickers on the boxes or envelopes we throw away contain important information such as our home address and full name, including surnames, and the package number and information about it. In addition, there is access to a QR code or barcode that can also provide further clues.
Fortunately, the information provided by Amazon on their packages does not include the telephone number. Therefore, theoretically, they should not be able to carry out a telephone scam. However, if they find it on the Internet, they will have a perfect excuse to obtain banking or other details. For example, referring to a delivery check or a defect they have discovered and for which they will refund your money.
If they don’t get your number, scammers can also knock on your door pretending to be an Amazon delivery person or a worker from any courier service. If you were thinking of returning an order you ordered on Prime Day, for example, the criminal could steal from you without raising suspicion.
How to delete all your data from an Amazon package?
Given the huge privacy problem that Amazon stickers can pose, products that serve to erase data effectively are becoming more and more viral. In the e-commerce itself we can find several rollers at different prices that serve to keep our confidentiality without complications:
However, we don’t need this viral device to remove important information from Amazon packages. All you need to do is use a black marker and make sure that the label is unreadable. Another option is to cut the label into very small pieces, so that criminals can’t access all the data.
