The term “clickjacking” is a portmanteau of the words “click” and “hijacking”.

Clickjacking is where you click on a link on a web page but you have unknowingly clicked on something hidden.

This is a way for scammers to get you to make purchases on Amazon or other retail sites without your knowledge, or to start videos, sign up for subscriptions etc.

This only happens on scammer’s websites, not on reputable business websites, but you can inadvertently end up on such a website by clicking a link in an email or on social media etc.

For example, you receive an email with a link to a video about a news item and you click it – expecting the news item to appear. However, it takes you to a page of news items and you click one but have in fact unknowingly clicked on a link to buy an expensive item on Amazon. The item selected is sold by the scammer and will be removed from Amazon before you can claim a refund.

That Amazon link was transparent and over the top of the link you actually intended to click.

This scam using Amazon relies on you having one-click purchasing turned on and that you are logged in.

Scammers using this technique for to get clicks on a video that they get paid for or likes on a social media site they get rewarded for etc.

The technique used in this scam is sometimes called User Interface Redressing which is a wider term than clickjacking and also includes browserless clickjacking, Likejacking and more.

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