Amazon added scam verification to Alexa for Shopping on September 2, turning its consumer AI assistant into a real-time authentication tool for the 360,000 customers who contact Amazon's customer service teams each year wondering whether a message they received is genuine.
The feature works by checking the submitted communication against Amazon's records of every message sent by its teams globally. The AI analyzes sender information, content, timing, and metadata to determine authenticity, according to the press release.
The system returns one of three responses: confirmed official, not from Amazon, or unverifiable, with the third directing customers toward additional verification steps rather than declaring fraud definitively.
"We built a tool to put certainty directly in customers' hands, in real time, when they need it most," said Scott Knapp, VP of Worldwide Buyer Risk Prevention at Amazon. "It's part of our broader commitment to educate and empower customers and protect them against scams."
US consumers reported $15.9 billion in fraud losses to the FTC in 2025, up from $12 billion in 2024. Imposter scams were the most commonly reported fraud category.
The Federal Reserve reported that 21% of US adults experienced financial fraud or scams in 2024 and that consumers lost $63 billion to non-credit card fraud across the year.
Nearly two-thirds of scam victims make a payment within 24 hours of initial contact, which the company says is precisely the window the real-time verification tool is designed to interrupt.
The feature also creates an intelligence loop. Every communication submitted through Alexa for Shopping is automatically reported to Amazon's customer protection and enforcement teams, meaning each customer inquiry provides intelligence about emerging scam tactics and helps Amazon identify and disrupt the operators running them.
Amazon said the system will improve as more customers report suspicious messages, which means each use increases the tool's accuracy for future users.
The scam verification feature adds to Amazon's earlier authentication infrastructure. Earlier in 2026 the company launched [email protected], an email address that allows anyone to forward suspicious messages and receive a response confirming whether it was a genuine Amazon communication, alongside an online form on its customer service site providing the same assistance.
The Alexa for Shopping integration makes the same verification available directly within the shopping experience rather than as a separate process.