Before Xmas I had a fraudulent entry on my credit card account from Amazon of £49.99. I immediately froze my account and the Bank were excellent in refunding me the money and issuing me a new card.
However, on reporting to Amazon 24 hours later they acknowledged that yes I hadn’t made the purchase and some (villian) had gained access to my card number. I though the matter resolved until this morning I received a text purportedly from Amazon granting a new access code to reactivate my account and to confirm on the link attached, which of course I didn’t.
Tried to ask Amazon what was going on but to no avail. Fortunately there are other providers!
It’s not always obvious where the card details were taken from, only where they were used.
I have been the victim of card fraud before and someone had rung up charges of about $2,500 on my card at a vendor I had never in fact shopped at before. My bank refunded the full amount and issued a new card immediately. But I then went though about 80 online accounts (only a small number of which actually have payment details) and did the following:
Removed all accounts no longer used.
Changed all passwords.
Enabled MFA on all accounts that offered it.
As a matter of personal policy, I suggest doing the above after any type of fraud, financial or otherwise.
I do not know how it works outside Germany, but over here Amazon has perfect customer service. whenever required I can call them 24/7, no waiting in line.
As for the fraud issue, I had this once in over 40 years of using credit cards. Of all places, it was the Hilton in Tokyo where someone (a student working at reception?) stole my account details. The credit card company informed me in no time.
Was there an entry in your order history which you disputed and hadn’t made or just a cc charge out of the blue?
Presumably Amazon could tell you if the charge was made against your Amazon account or a different one using your cc details.
A lot of the spam I get I’m convinced is due to non-Amazon sellers having access to my Amazon email address as well as another one I’ve used for utility companies.
Did you figure out if the text was actually from amazon ?
Presumably your computer is up to date with security measures, and I assume you’ve not used the same email and password combination at other sites as if there’s been a breach elsewhere the sheer number of Amazon users would make it a good place for someone who had stolen login details from elsewhere to try.
I do use them very frequently, often for low value purchases which makes it more difficult to keep track of numerous small purchases on a cc statement - makes me realise I don’t tend to check the statements as often as I probably should.
When I bought my first book from Amazon in February ‘99 they were a revolutionary new face in the U.K. scene, they’d opened a few months ago and the ability to buy a book online was quite exciting, how they’ve changed from the new challenger shaking up the market to a massively dominant player across pretty much all of the retail sector.
Quite an eclectic choice for my first 2 purchases.
It’s multi-factor authentication, another term for two step verification. It’s where you use say a code sent by text, or a verification message on your banking app.
I use Amazon as an absolute last resort, and much prefer to buy from eBay if I have to buy online and can’t find something locally.
Every time Amazon is used, Bezos gets richer and another shop dies. I did use it back in the day when it sold books, but I’d rather go without than use them now.
Shops and other suppliers are available.
