Amazon Prime Day presents opportunities for shoppers, and scammers too

Amazon Prime Day offers consumers deep discounts on appliances, electronics and other products, but it also provides an opportunity for cybercriminals to take advantage of their affinity for a good deal. 

Bad actors are known to prey on shoppers' eagerness to buy online during the retail holiday, which is one of the most anticipated shopping events of the year. Indeed, Amazon said scams tend to spike around the event, which this year will take place July 16 and 17. 

Last year, around Prime Day, Amazon shoppers reported three times as many scams as usual to the company. Customer reports of bad actors trying to dupe them rose from roughly 5,000 a week to more than 14,000 a week, Scott Knapp, Amazon's director of worldwide buyer risk prevention told CBS News.