Amazon Credit Card debacle

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clementine

clementine

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I know that todays world of doing business is different, but I thought Id give a heads up to what happened lately with my Amazon account.

The short of it is......

A person was able to get my credit card number and attach it to their Amazon account. They would have to have the CCV number on the back as well to be able to order as far as I know. So in this situation, the order will not show on my "account status" or anything, I would only see the charge on my credit card statement. Now, I am not made of money, but I kind of skim my credit card statement before paying it, especially if it seems high (and it usually does seem high). This last statement was looking REALLY high.

I contact Amazon, they say to contact the bank, and back and forth....yada yada yada....you all know the dance. Credit card cancelled, new one on the way, Amazon sends me an email like they caught the error and are giving themselves a big pat on the back.

How does a large company allow one CC to be used on two accounts? Seems like an easy catch. CC, pre-pays, and company cards are easy to come by so why allow it? Ill get my money back, but I wont get my time back and the time I have to spend scrutinizing the F'n cryptic charges on my CC statement is lame, especially the Amazon ones. They all say "Amazon" with some sales number that has to be cross checked with every purchase on my Amazon account.

Rant over. Thanks
 
clementine said:
I know that todays world of doing business is different, but I thought Id give a heads up to what happened lately with my Amazon account.

The short of it is......

A person was able to get my credit card number and attach it to their Amazon account. They would have to have the CCV number on the back as well to be able to order as far as I know. So in this situation, the order will not show on my "account status" or anything, I would only see the charge on my credit card statement. Now, I am not made of money, but I kind of skim my credit card statement before paying it, especially if it seems high (and it usually does seem high). This last statement was looking REALLY high.

I contact Amazon, they say to contact the bank, and back and forth....yada yada yada....you all know the dance. Credit card cancelled, new one on the way, Amazon sends me an email like they caught the error and are giving themselves a big pat on the back.

How does a large company allow one CC to be used on two accounts? Seems like an easy catch. CC, pre-pays, and company cards are easy to come by so why allow it? Ill get my money back, but I wont get my time back and the time I have to spend scrutinizing the F'n cryptic charges on my CC statement is lame, especially the Amazon ones. They all say "Amazon" with some sales number that has to be cross checked with every purchase on my Amazon account.

Rant over. Thanks
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that. I have issues with MOST of these prices. We went through hell yesterday with BOTH our Banks....very rarely do they see thier errors
 
I never give my real credit card number to any online business.
I only have one credit card and keep an eye on every purchase.
If I need to purchase something online I buy a Visa/Master Card gift card locally and use that card number, expiration date and CCV to make the purchase. It may not be prudent for everyone but it has worked well for me.
 
clementine said:
I know that todays world of doing business is different, but I thought Id give a heads up to what happened lately with my Amazon account.

The short of it is......

A person was able to get my credit card number and attach it to their Amazon account. They would have to have the CCV number on the back as well to be able to order as far as I know. So in this situation, the order will not show on my "account status" or anything, I would only see the charge on my credit card statement. Now, I am not made of money, but I kind of skim my credit card statement before paying it, especially if it seems high (and it usually does seem high). This last statement was looking REALLY high.

I contact Amazon, they say to contact the bank, and back and forth....yada yada yada....you all know the dance. Credit card cancelled, new one on the way, Amazon sends me an email like they caught the error and are giving themselves a big pat on the back.

How does a large company allow one CC to be used on two accounts? Seems like an easy catch. CC, pre-pays, and company cards are easy to come by so why allow it? Ill get my money back, but I wont get my time back and the time I have to spend scrutinizing the F'n cryptic charges on my CC statement is lame, especially the Amazon ones. They all say "Amazon" with some sales number that has to be cross checked with every purchase on my Amazon account.

Rant over. Thanks
Click to expand...

I don’t think two accounts using the same card would be any kind of red flag. I’m sure there are people with multiple Amazon accounts that have them tied to a single card. I’m also sure there are plenty of couples that might share a credit card that don’t share an Amazon account. A shared card has all the same numbers, so it would show up as the same card on two accounts.

It sucks, but you should always pay attention to all of the charges on your cards. It’s not uncommon at all for cards to be compromised, and the longer it takes for you to notice the harder it is to deal with the damage. I get an alert on my phone every time my card is used. Can that be annoying? Sure, because most of the time it’s an alert for a transaction I just did. But the time it’s not, I instantly notify my bank and cancel the card.

mopardude62 said:
I never give my real credit card number to any online business.
I only have one credit card and keep an eye on every purchase.
If I need to purchase something online I buy a Visa/Master Card gift card locally and use that card number, expiration date and CCV to make the purchase. It may not be prudent for everyone but it has worked well for me.
Click to expand...

I can’t say for certain, but I imagine that would also be an end around on a lot of the purchase protections offered by a regular credit card, since gift cards usually don’t have those protections. Which is why gift cards get used in so many scams.

And, gift cards are also easily compromised.
 
72bluNblu said:
I can’t say for certain, but I imagine that would also be an end around on a lot of the purchase protections offered by a regular credit card, since gift cards usually don’t have those protections. Which is why gift cards get used in so many scams.

And, gift cards are also easily compromised.
Click to expand...

Sort of when a large business that sells a lot of black friday stuff says the shipper delivered something. Can't find it, drops the ball starting 2 weeks after alleged delivery, and 3 months later still no resolution because the shipper hasn't given them a resolution on the matter. Nah, just let the card company know and be done with the wait and shitty service/attitude from selling company reps.

And guess who rebilled me for items not received. LOL I love this stuff.

Watching your credit card charges is a monthly deal with me anymore. Part of the game with keeping things in check.
 
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If I was to buy online I would get one of those prepaid cards. All the commercials on tv about people having their identity stolen, what do they expect to happen when they shop online, bank online, deposit checks and pay for things with their smart phone, they leave themselves wide open to have their identity stolen and their debit card hanked. What's wrong with shopping the old fashion way and paying with cash?
Even monopoly has a electronic version of their game. I don't think that it's truly possible to teach kids how to manage and count money with a plastic card.
 
one thing you may consider is having a card exclusively for amazon or online shopping. that way if the card is compromised in some way it can be somewhat limited in the scope of damage. it also makes it easier to check the monthly statement when you know the activity on that card is limited to specific types of spending.

another way to further insulate yourself is to have a card that's set up to a separate account for the express purpose of amazon/online shopping. set it up as a debit card and keep the balance low then if you get got they can't touch you up for much.
 
You would think these assclown sellers would have better security. Laziness is what it boils down to.
2 accounts with same card SHOULD raise red flags... they should be asking themself...2 accounts? Same last name? Same billing address? Same mailing address? DEE FN NIED!
The richest bunt in the world cant afford a proper security system?
 
4spdragtop said:
You would think these assclown sellers would have better security. Laziness is what it boils down to.
2 accounts with same card SHOULD raise red flags... they should be asking themself...2 accounts? Same last name? Same billing address? Same mailing address? DEE FN NIED!
The richest bunt in the world cant afford a proper security system?
Click to expand...

Yeah, there’s tons of reasons why the different accounts could use the same card. My wife and I don’t share Amazon accounts, and although we also don’t have the same card on both accounts either we easily could. It’s not the red flag you think it is. And I’m not trying to defend Amazon, just pointing out that designing an algorithm to catch that for what amounts to millions of users would be very difficult. There’s so much data there it would be an impossible task to monitor by hand.

Having different shipping addresses with that same card would be more of an issue, but even then there could be legitimate reasons for that.

The laziness is not being vigilant with the charges coming through on your own card.
 
4spdragtop said:
You would think these assclown sellers would have better security. Laziness is what it boils down to.
2 accounts with same card SHOULD raise red flags... they should be asking themself...2 accounts? Same last name? Same billing address? Same mailing address? DEE FN NIED!
The richest bunt in the world cant afford a proper security system?
Click to expand...
I was thinking that should have raised the flag. I have a history of same shipping address since the inception of the account.

Seems like a new shipping address should be questioned.

Also, seems like the payor of the card should be notifies of ALL purchases. (I had no idea about purchases through Amazon, I only caught it through my CC statement.)
 
72bluNblu said:
Having different shipping addresses with that same card would be more of an issue, but even then there could be legitimate reasons for that.
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I am sure there are legitimate reasons for such an arrangement, It seems like they would want to be a bit more vigilant on their side as ultimately I (or maybe???) wont be the one paying for this. It will be the bank or Amazon or both in reality pending their arrangement. Probably the CC company insurance company. Who pays that? We do. The person "Kelsey" get the stuff, but with what ramifications? Blacklisted? Unable to open another account? or just under another name?

Seems like a lot of cyber holes that I believe ultimately the consumer (or maybe???) ends up paying for. Cost of doing business. I will probably slow my Amazon purchases, but its tough, F'n convenient. I have used cash this last couple days.....its kinda weird. Takes more time. but less worry for sure. Went to a Hockey game and the whole building was "cashless". That was a beerless/pretzaless situation.
 
I hope that the box stores never go out of business, if they do then watch what you'll pay on good old Amazon, shipping charges will apply and so will sales tax.
 
72bluNblu said:
designing an algorithm to catch that for what amounts to millions of users would be very difficult.
Click to expand...
the more i think about this I think this is pretty simple, and important. its not like they cant program in that the payor (name on the card) gets all purchases reported on their account. You are pretty wicked smart from what I have seen so I say it hesitantly, but fairly confidently.
 
conspiracy theory........so many people are employed in the fraud dept that the company allows holes in their system to keep employees paid.
 
clementine said:
the more i think about this I think this is pretty simple, and important. its not like they cant program in that the payor (name on the card) gets all purchases reported on their account. You are pretty wicked smart from what I have seen so I say it hesitantly, but fairly confidently.
Click to expand...

It’s not that simple. If you just made it by card you’d likely catch a whole bunch of legitimate users.

And then, how do you notify the card holder? The account user gets all the notifications from Amazon, and if someone has stolen your card the account information will be theirs. So the only entity that can notify the card holder is the card company.

You could crack down on accounts that have a different shipping and billing address, but again, you’d catch tons of legitimate users.

And I dunno about your account, but you can set your notifications to get an alert if your address is changed. But that doesn’t do anything if someone has a different account with your card.
clementine said:
how does a hacker get the CCV?
Click to expand...

By hacking an online company with the stored card info. Or by using a skimmer on a point of sale device.

Nothing on the internet is truly safe, there are various levels of security but ultimately there will always be leaks and hacks. Look at how many companies have reported data breaches. If you clicked “save my data” on any of those retailers websites they have your card info.

The only way to really deal with this is to monitor your card activity closely. Not with just your monthly statement, but with alerts for card use. You can set those alerts pretty specifically, dollar amounts, locations, etc.
 
I don't mean any disrespect to anyone who shops online, but this is going to happen because you put your information out there. From what I've read they don't need the 3 digit code on the back of the card just the card number why this is I don't know.
 
Dan the man said:
If I was to buy online I would get one of those prepaid cards. All the commercials on tv about people having their identity stolen, what do they expect to happen when they shop online, bank online, deposit checks and pay for things with their smart phone, they leave themselves wide open to have their identity stolen and their debit card hanked. What's wrong with shopping the old fashion way and paying with cash?
Even monopoly has a electronic version of their game. I don't think that it's truly possible to teach kids how to manage and count money with a plastic card.
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The last sentence a fully agree with, because from what I'm seeing Generation Z was not taught that in school... I usually use just debit most of the time if I can call the people I'll call him and give my card number to a human however I bought a lot of Auto Parts online electronically I haven't been burnt yet, Thank God!
 
Dan the man said:
Apparently they don't need it in order to use the card.
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Most debit cards you can run it Credit in the store and you don't need anything but a signature you don't need ccv, now online I believe I've had to give him that code sometime cuz I don't think they want to run your card as credit before they send you the parts. Sometimes it takes a week or two for that to clear from what I gather
 
72bluNblu said:
It’s not that simple. If you just made it by card you’d likely catch a whole bunch of legitimate users
Click to expand...
If the payor of the card had access to everything being charged on his card (it would be put into his/her "order" bin) then the payor of the card ( card holder) could easily look up everything being charged to his/her card.

So no biggie if the wife has a different account or address, the card holder would still know that she recently used his/her card to get something.

This way the payor doesn't have to rely soley on a purchase number on his credit card statement (usually looks like "Amazon HO 746U87OI....or something fairly tough to distinguish from the other purchases from Amazon) that he/she would have to cross check with his/her Amazon purchases to see if he/she made the purchase.

It IS quite easy to put this info on the payors account. Amazon doesn't catch anyone in this scenario, but it gives the payor a much easier time to catch unauthorized transactions.......Do you see what im saying? (zeeemzain?)
 
AND........even better the card holder would have access to WHERE the items are being shipped. I think a illegal purchaser might think twice about it if they know the person's whose card they are using knows where they are getting things shipped. Even if its being shipped to a PO box or something there is a trail to follow.

The way its set up now the thief has total anonymity.
 
72bluNblu said:
Or by using a skimmer on a point of sale device.

The only way to really deal with this is to monitor your card activity closely. Not with just your monthly statement, but with alerts for card use. You can set those alerts pretty specifically, dollar amounts, locations, etc.
Click to expand...
this. skimmers are the #1 way the data is harvested. it's not that $300 whatchamacallit you bought from builder's depot, it's the pay at the pump fly by night gas station or 7-11 type store transaction that they skimmed off. or stand alone ATMs are another wildly popular source.

to the second point, it's so easy to set up card use alerts that it's just foolish not to use them. i have my "everyday use card" set up for $50 and socal area only. that's the card most likely to be compromised because i use it at gas stations, restaurants, etc. if i'm spending any more than $50 it's more than likely a larger purchase from a known entity-- the bookstore, lowes, target whatever so that's easily monitored. so if i get pinged for more than $50 on the everyday card i'm either making or immediately made that transaction or it's instantly suspicious.
 
Somebody, somehow has gotten to my credit card twice in the last three months. Each time my credit card company alerted me within an hour by text, by email and by phone of what they called some suspicious activity on my card. They told me exactly what it was and the information they gave me was correct. There was one transaction each time that I didn't authorize. They were investigated by their fraud unit and the charges were removed within 24 hrs. My point is, I feel comfortable with my credit card company. They must be keeping a close watch what goes on.
Also on another note. I have four different addresses on Amazon, my son's, my daughter's, mine and one in Florida and have never been questioned about shipping addresses.
 
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