Amazon Fined $2.25 Million for Failing to Assist Identity Theft Victims
Amazon has been ordered to pay $2.25 million to settle Federal Trade Commission claims that the company failed to adequately assist customers who fell victim to identity theft.
According to the FTC complaint, Amazon violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by refusing to provide victims with records related to fraudulent accounts. The agency described the experience many customers faced when seeking help as entering a "Kafkaesque sequence," where support agents would decline to share purchase information unless the victim could name the individual who opened the fraudulent account—a detail victims typically have no way of knowing.
The settlement requires Amazon to pay the fine and implement procedures to better assist identity theft victims in obtaining the documentation they need to dispute fraudulent charges and repair their credit.