Amazon website on smartphone. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)
key takeaways:
- Amazon agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle US claims disclosed on June 29 that it withheld identity-theft records from customers.
- The FTC said Amazon made unreasonable demands on victims seeking legally required records about fraudulent purchases under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
- The settlement requires Amazon to provide business transaction records for free within 30 days while other FTC cases involving Amazon are pending.
Amazon.com Inc. American agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle claims that it routinely failed to provide records to help customers who were victims of identity theft.
The settlement, disclosed in a court filing on June 29, follows an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into allegations that the company was not providing customers with legally required information about fraudulent purchases made in their names, as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
According to filings in Washington federal court, the FTC referred the case to the Justice Department, which reached a settlement in May that required Amazon to provide business transaction records to ID theft victims for free within 30 days of receiving the request.
Christopher Muffridge, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said, “Amazon often subjects victims of identity theft through a Kafkaesque process, demanding that they identify the thief who stole their information, before Amazon will release the records to which the law gives them the right – records that could help victims protect themselves and recover from fraudulent conduct.” “The FTC will not allow companies to ignore their legal obligations, especially those designed to support and protect victims of identity theft.”
According to the FTC, Amazon made unreasonable demands on customers who were seeking information to help settle fraudulent charges. In one example, Amazon told a customer it couldn’t share information about an account that had fraudulently used their credit card unless the customer was able to guess the name of the offending person, the FTC said in its Complaint.
“We have resolved this matter with the FTC and have implemented process improvements for customers who believe they may be victims of identity theft,” Amazon said in a statement. “Customers who need assistance requesting their records can visit our help page to learn more.”
The FTC has several ongoing cases involving Amazon, including an antitrust lawsuit by the Biden administration accusing it of illegally monopolizing parts of the online retail market, as well as an investigation into whether the company defrauded advertisers.
Amazon.com Inc. Ranked No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America, No. 15 on the TT Top 100 list of the largest private carriers, and No. 1 on the TT Top 50 global freight forwarder list.
