Paying for someone's Amazon Prime...but who?

[Guest2]

I noticed a charge on my credit card for £7.99 so contacted Amazon and had the following reply

Hello,

I've checked your account and confirm that the ££7.99 charge you reported relates to an Amazon Prime membership; however, I don't see an Amazon Prime membership associated with your account. I’ve checked into the account(s) related to this credit card, and it appears to be someone you may know. I’d suggest speaking to relatives or close friends who may be or might have previously been authorised users of your card.

You may also wish to consider the following common scenarios, in case this charge resulted from one of these situations:

* Do you have a son or daughter away at school who is authorised to use the card? Have you asked them about this charge?
* Do you have a spouse, friend, relative, or co-worker who has access to your card number and may have placed an order?
* Did you send a gift to someone recently from Amazon.co.uk
* Did you place an order in the past for a back-ordered item? Perhaps it was just recently dispatched

I've e-mailed the person on whose account this charge was found asking them to contact you regarding the charge. As we are bound by laws that allow us to provide information only to specific parties this means that even if your card is on another account, we can only provide Amazon.co.uk account information to the name on that Amazon account. We can’t provide you with any information related to this charge (this includes the name of the purchaser, the item purchased, the order cost or the associated address).

If you find that the charges were not initiated by an authorised user of your card, please contact your financial institution for additional assistance. We would suggest cancelling your card and requesting a new card number if this is the case.

I hope this helps. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Warmest regards,

As we are bound by laws that allow us to provide information only to specific parties this means that even if your card is on another account, we can only provide Amazon.co.uk account information to the name on that Amazon account.

To clarify, this means that if someone is using my Credit card, they cannot tell me the name of the account holder?

I think I'll just contact my bank and let them know someone has used by card without me knowing. How I get the £7.99 back though, I am not sure - Maybe its refunded through my bank.

Has anyone else had anything similar?

 

[Thekwango]

Yup data protection laws prevent them telling you who is using your card.

Cancel with bank and let them deal. Re the charge, fraudulent use I covered by your bank. So most likely they will refund after a bit of an investigation.

 

[VincentHanna]

They do appear to be hinting that you know them though

Any ideas about who that could be?

 

[d_brennen]

Edit: ignore, need some coffee

 

[Psycho Sonny]

it's pretty obvious it's a family member or someone you let use your card once or you used your card on their account once.

this could get them in trouble if you go to your bank. so i'd ask first before going to them. because you need to report it as fraud. they can then get done for it. maybe not for a trivial amount like 8 quid but you will be wasting their fraud departments time that could be spent on a real case.

 

[jpaul]

If you ever log into your account elsewhere eg relatives PC. - did someone then use it, even inadvertently signing up for prime.
... will they tell you time when card was used ?

 

[Kutter]

I found amazon prime charges on my account, phoned up amazon to find out who it was and why i was being charged. After a little investigation it turned out to be my wife. Amazon guy was laughing at me when i said ohh its my wife..

 

[chaparral]

Remember when my mobile phone was stolen and the thief used it to make long distance calls and receive calls

My local telecoms was not allowed to give me the numbers that where called on my stolen mobile phone by the thief but wanted to charge me for them..

 

[DanTheMan]

I work in a bank and we get this a lot. It usually ends up being a partner or child who haven't untitled the Amazon prime trial box when making an order.

It's worth trying to get it cancelled through Amazon forat as when a block is put on by your bank, it usually means nothing can be spent at Amazon at all as it blocks any transactions to the company as a whole.

 

[Guest2]

Spoke to family. Credit card cancelled with the bank and reported as fraud. I am being refunded the monthly charges, there was also a £7.99 charge for February. I have requested the Amazon account to be closed

 

[Glaucus]

Spoke to family. Credit card cancelled with the bank and reported as fraud. I am being refunded the monthly charges, there was also a £7.99 charge for February. I have requested the Amazon account to be closed

odd reaction to close account. they must have the same surname or delivery address otherwise why would they say what they did.

 

[Iron-man]

not sure I would close the account but hopefully you get your money back at the very least

 

[VincentHanna]

Spoke to family. Credit card cancelled with the bank and reported as fraud. I am being refunded the monthly charges, there was also a £7.99 charge for February. I have requested the Amazon account to be closed

Total overreaction if you ask me.

Like another poster said, a family member probably signed up for it inadvertently.

 

[Glaucus]

Total overreaction if you ask me.

Like another poster said, a family member probably signed up for it inadvertently.

it wasn't even on his account, so it makes no sense at all.
hope reporting it as fraud doesnt come back to bite as the info Amazon has given, does not sound like fraud at all. Or family fraud.

 

[Scrutinize]

This can happen if you used to have prime, cancelled then watch any Amazon prime content on vid or music. It automatically reactivates your membership.

Can be completely accidental by anyone in your home if for example you had Amazon linked on a TV and you watch a prime film etc.

 

[muon]

Spoke to family. Credit card cancelled with the bank and reported as fraud. I am being refunded the monthly charges, there was also a £7.99 charge for February. I have requested the Amazon account to be closed

I'm pretty certain if it is worth their time Amazon could refute any accusations of fraud with whatever evidence they have (to your bank's fraud department). Then you wouldn't get any refund.

 

[jpaul]

you are sure your IT equipment has not been compromised/hacked ?
Comments elsewhere suggest amazon can supply IP addresses used for transcation (to bank)

whe you said cancelled, you just mean a new card will be issued, not that you have permanently cut ties with that provider.

 

[Housey]

Why did you do this I’ve not finished watching the good wife

 

[wez130]

I got a weird charge of $4. odd (NZ) from Amazon last week, no idea for what, i cancelled my prime when TGT finished. Then i got a phone call from my bank on Thursday, they said that someone had used my 'virtual card' (NFC on my phone), to purchase Netflix! They refunded that, but i'm wondering whether the 2 are connected. They have cancelled the virtual card now though so we shall see.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

it wasn't even on his account, so it makes no sense at all.
hope reporting it as fraud doesnt come back to bite as the info Amazon has given, does not sound like fraud at all. Or family fraud.

He has reported it as fraud. Therefore it's a false report unless he wants to go the whole hog with it.

and it appears to be someone you may know. I’d suggest speaking to relatives or close friends who may be or might have previously been authorised users of your card.

It's a family member using his card. So he cannot just report to bank as unauthorised use. He is actually committing fraud by doing so