Bogus Amazon Charges

dickdasr1234

On 05/06/23 I received a flurry of emails from Amazon beginning at 07:06 and ending at 07:34 with a message telling me that my account may have been compromised.

In the interim, there were emails confirming orders for Norton and Bitdefender security software totalling some £37.

The first email was for a refund on items they believed not to have been delivered to me but which I had actually received.

The final email included:

" An unauthorized party may have accessed your account.

To protect your information, we have:

-- Disabled the password to your account.

-- Reversed any modifications made by this party.

-- Canceled any pending orders. You can ignore any confirmation emails that you received for these orders.

-- Disabled the Two step verification in your account if active, please reset on Amazon and enable if appropriate."

Believing Amazon's innards to be scrambled, I contacted AIB to cancel my card and any charges outstanding.

Lo and behold, today I received a letter from AIB stating that Amazon are contesting the chargeback for the Norton Antivirus.

Ain't technology wonderful?

dickdasr1234

BTW, none of these orders are showing on my amazon account!

Cabaal

If orders have been cancelled as they were unauthorised orders on a compromised account then the orders will no longer show on your account, this is normal enough.

100% sounds like your account was compromised, you may want to change the password etc on your email account as thats the most common route. Also setup two-step verification for added security on accounts if its available!

You may want to respond to Amazon advising that the chargeback request is being disputed by them and query why given that this was/is an unauthorised charge.

dickdasr1234

Amazon attempted to deal with the erroneous orders with by means of applying gift cards. Amazon could not even get that right as the omitted one order entirely and were short £7.77 on another.

You say that it us perfectly normal that these orders should not appear on my order history: from where, then, does Amazon derive the authority to seek funds from my credit card?

You say that it appears certain that my account has been compromised. What is not certain is from where it has been compromised. Amazon assures me it us not from their end.

I have never clicked on any link in an email or text message, indeed I did not even click on link in the email that Amazon sent.

All my transaction are governed by two-step verification and it beggars understanding how these transactions progressed through Amazon in the absence of such verification.

I also fail to see how any hacker could benefit from these transactions.

Amazon alerted me within 20 minutes of these transactions but does not reveal what drew their attention to them.

With regard to contacting Amazon, I have no intention of delving into a labyrinth of bullsh*t communications given the nature of their initial email.l

muffler

Is this just a rant about Amazon?

dickdasr1234

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120804050#Comment_120804050

What a peculiar comment - and from a 'moderator' too! And you got a 'thanks' - what a peculiar forum!

Did you read my posts?

My original post laid out clearly a set of ridiculous circumstances that were laid at my door by Amazon.

My second post was a response to Cabaal by way of further elaboration on those circumstances.

Perhaps you need to look up the definition of 'rant'.

muffler

So from what you stated it appears you would rather have a good old blow out here on Boards rather than contact Amazon.

Of course we all have our own thoughts and ways to proceed in these situations but if it were me Id be getting on to Amazon first and then have a rant here if unsuccessful. In any event I hope it works out.

dickdasr1234

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120806050#Comment_120806050

I thought my original post might raise a hare.

I felt I might not be the only one out there.

I have no need to contact Amazon, my bank is dealing with them.

Can you imagine the buck-passing that would go on in Amazon?

How likely do you think it is that I could contact someone with half a clue as to what has transpired?

How long do you think that would take?

Once again, I fail to see the blow/rant in any of this, unless lengthy posts are automatically deemed rants.

Cabaal

It comes down to this,

Are the orders/charges something you placed?

If yes, then it's very simple. You want the charges to proceed and you want the orders reinstated.

If no, then they are unauthorized orders by an unauthorized party. The only way that can occur is if your account is compromised from YOUR side. Thats means either a) somebody guessed your password...if you re-use passwords on services this is the most common outcome or b) your email account was/has been compromised and somebody reset your Amazon a/c password to gain access to it. In which case you seriously need to setup two-step verification and make sure nobody has setup any forwarding email filter rules on your email account asap.

You might want to think that the compromise was from Amazon's side rather then accept you had a lack of good security on your side. But that doesn't change reality. It's normal for companys like Amazon to hide orders that the a/c holder states are unauthorised, that doesn't mean they don't exist anymore it just means you won't see them or details on them such as delivery addresses etc.

You've not said if two-step verification was previously setup on your Amazon account or email account previously so I think we can all safely assume it wasn't.

btw, you don't have to click on links etc. You just have to use the same details previously on other services that later become compromised. I suggest you check https://haveibeenpwned.com/

In all honest your posts come across as rants rather then wanting to resolve the problem.

dickdasr1234

My god but this place is not short of know-alls!

The only responses to my posts are moderators who both accused me of ranting (BTW, THIS is a rant!)

No, my account did not have two-step security but my credit card did and I normally use PayPal as a belt-and-braces approach.

I really don't give a flying flamingo who accesses my Amazon a/c but, if my credit card is not secure then either the bank or Amazon is at fault.

You also fail to explain how a hacker may profit from purchasing security software and refunding me money. Maybe it's some kind soul, such as yourself, acting just to let me know that I am vulnerable.

You geniuses fail to explain how my earlier posts constitute a rant.

I get brainless advice from someone who must be either a civil servant or a teacher- you know, the type who think everyone else is dumber than they.

I get bullied by a pair of 'moderators' working in tandem.

Ain't boards wonderful?

muffler

So people who happen to be moderators should not be allowed to post?

dickdasr1234

People who are moderators should not make unjustified disparaging comments.

Again, I would like you to explain to me the content within my first two posts that constituted a rant.

Neither should moderators back one another up in the making of such unjustified comments.

The Continental Op

I had something similar to the OP. Totally an inside job or Amazon cock up. If someone had logged in with a compromised password then I'd have still gotten a email notification of the sale, email address unchanged. iirc I got the same msg as the OP and Amazon messed up my purchase history sorting it out because they also deleted some items that I'd bought and had just been delivered along with the items I didn't buy. I still got charged for the items I did get. On another occasion Amazon didn't spot anything but I somehow bought books I didn't want again with no email notification.

Julez

I've always found Amazon customer support to be very helpful and accommodating. They have millions of customers, and whatever your experiencing so far is, has probably gone through all automated flags and resolutions. I would reach out to customer care to try and understand what exactly happened. Not sure why you went straight to chargeback before just asking Amazon to refund. Chargeback should always be a last resort, they always end up messy.

dickdasr1234

Be careful or you'll be accused of ranting!

I have no problem admitting that my password security is lax.

What I do have a problem with is precisely what you have described.

If I access my credit card via Amazon, I am immediately put through the AIB verification procedure. It seems that the hacker can gain access to my card without doing so.

The fault lies with Amazon, AIB, or both.

Again, I would like the know-alls to explain how the hacker gains by purchasing security software and giving me a rebate on items I have received. The only thing that I can think of is that the hacker would follow up with an email contained a dodgy link.

The gas part is that the Amazon email contained the following link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/help

wherein you can find the following: "Did you receive any unexpected SMS/E-mail/Phone call/Letters that appear to be from Amazon ? Be alert. Please do not open any links in the communication and report it as soon as possible here.

What a bunch of a**holes!

RANT OVER!

dickdasr1234

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120812759#Comment_120812759

Given how Amazon have mismanaged the situation thus far, I have no reason to believe I would get a straightforward account of what exactly has transpired.

I did not go straight to charge-back, I simply cancelled my card upon learning that it had somehow become compromised.

Amazon failed to neutralise one of the bogus orders and my bank contacted me by letter to say that Amazon's merchant bank had declined the charge-back.

I see nothing 'messy' in letting the bank handle it - the documentary proof of Amazon's cock-up is all sitting there in my account and their emails.

Can you imagine some dogsbody in Amazon being able to explain to me why a hacker can directly access my credit card whilst I cannot?

L1011

None of the moderators you are complaining about moderate this forum.

You are ranting, your posting style is aggressive and it appears you don't actually want to accept any answers.