Weird Amazon thing

jsb

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The gig used to be if you were a scammer with a stolen CC number, you placed a small order shipped to the card's billing address first, then once that went through they could more easily order stuff and ship it elsewhere (to themselves) without triggering a fraud alert.

Yeah, I've heard of that one, of course. And I've heard of the one where you receive a shipment without being charged. I've just never heard of getting charged for a package and getting that package. The stuff is roughly worth what I was charged (just by my estimation). I'm lucky that I have my credit card connected to my phone so I know whenever there is a charge.
 

JMA1125

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Yeah, I've heard of that one, of course. And I've heard of the one where you receive a shipment without being charged. I've just never heard of getting charged for a package and getting that package. The stuff is roughly worth what I was charged (just by my estimation). I'm lucky that I have my credit card connected to my phone so I know whenever there is a charge.
Let us know what you find out.
 
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jsb

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An update if anyone cares:

I received another charge to my credit card from Amazon even though I had removed all payment methods from my account. And, after my credit card dispute was resolved in my favor, American Express apparently decided that they did not want to refund the amount.

So I called Amazon who said they would credit my account. But the credit never showed up. After another phone call with Amazon, it appeared that there was another account set up with my phone number and not my email address where the 3 orders were found at (and explains why the orders never showed up in my order history). However, I could never access the account with my phone number.

So Amazon has said they have removed payment options and closed the phone number account. They claim that my payments have been credited to my card. I believe nothing.

I'm still not sure what the scam is because I received products.
 

BoxsterCy

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An update if anyone cares:

I received another charge to my credit card from Amazon even though I had removed all payment methods from my account. And, after my credit card dispute was resolved in my favor, American Express apparently decided that they did not want to refund the amount.

So I called Amazon who said they would credit my account. But the credit never showed up. After another phone call with Amazon, it appeared that there was another account set up with my phone number and not my email address where the 3 orders were found at (and explains why the orders never showed up in my order history). However, I could never access the account with my phone number.

So Amazon has said they have removed payment options and closed the phone number account. They claim that my payments have been credited to my card. I believe nothing.

I'm still not sure what the scam is because I received products.

Weird. Agree, totally don't get what the duplicate account was accomplishing.

I love the convenience of Amazon (click, click, click and it's here in 2 days), and the free shipping from other competitors as they respond in kinda, but hate all of the fakes and ****** products that proliferate their site.
 
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jsb

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Weird. Agree, totally don't get what the duplicate account was accomplishing.

I love the convenience of Amazon (click, click, click and it's here in 2 days), and the free shipping from other competitors as they respond in kinda, but hate all of the fakes and ****** products that proliferate their site.

I'm seriously considering not renewing my account or just funding it by gift cards that cannot be traced to my credit card.

But it is pretty scary to me that someone (or something) can open an additional account in my name and have access to my credit card information. They to have my address, my cell phone number, and access to my previous account.
 

BoxsterCy

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I'm seriously considering not renewing my account or just funding it by gift cards that cannot be traced to my credit card.

But it is pretty scary to me that someone (or something) can open an additional account in my name and have access to my credit card information. They to have my address, my cell phone number, and access to my previous account.

Pretty much everyone has had some issues with fraud on their cards. My first was years ago with some small "exploratory" charges on my card from some place in Belgium that I saw and flagged. I've probably had to get new cards issued 3 or 4 times. Last was a whole slew of charges for hotels and restaurants in Boulder, Colorado. Seems no common link to any of the frauds I had. Most were caught and flagged by the cards before I saw them. All of my charges without the card being present now give me a text alert.

Yours is certainly different in that it is more like an identity theft with an alternate account set up but the motive for it eludes me. It's just odd, isn't it?
 

TykeClone

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Might be a variation of what is described here except they are also hitting your card. Might be a crooked seller from Amazon you bought something from earlier.

https://clark.com/shopping-retail/amazon-scam-brushing-warning-deliveries-you-didnt-order/

This might be on the mark.

Using the actual address of the owner of the card to deliver goods would count as a sale for the crooked seller and get "junk" off of their books. Because of Visa/Mastercard rules, the owner of the card is not out anything if they report in a timely manner, and the crooked seller gets to book their income because the card company can't charge it back to them.
 

CyOps

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Might be a variation of what is described here except they are also hitting your card. Might be a crooked seller from Amazon you bought something from earlier.

https://clark.com/shopping-retail/amazon-scam-brushing-warning-deliveries-you-didnt-order/
My wife gets these random packages about once a month. Stuff she never ordered and isn't charged for. She reported it to Amazon but nothing came of it. I guess they see no problem with someone buying products and sending them to someone else.
 

ArgentCy

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This might be on the mark.

Using the actual address of the owner of the card to deliver goods would count as a sale for the crooked seller and get "junk" off of their books. Because of Visa/Mastercard rules, the owner of the card is not out anything if they report in a timely manner, and the crooked seller gets to book their income because the card company can't charge it back to them.

That was the only thing that crossed my mind. Talk about a heck of a business model. Just pick your customers and send them your crap and let a messed up CCard system pay.
 

jmb

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I'm seriously considering not renewing my account or just funding it by gift cards that cannot be traced to my credit card.

But it is pretty scary to me that someone (or something) can open an additional account in my name and have access to my credit card information. They to have my address, my cell phone number, and access to my previous account.
Problem with gift/pre-paid if lost or stolen you can lose a lot of cash quickly.
 
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