Community Chat

[JeanLouiseFinch]

I've heard back from Amazon.  They have made reoairs my account (removed password, cancelled any pending orders, and reversed any changes made by the other party.  They have asked me to wait 5 hrs. for everything to take effect.  After that I can go back in and reset the password and update my subscriptions, if needed.

[GAQShopr53]

@JeanLouiseFinch  This is good news and thanks for sharing...I am glad to hear Amazon is doing their part to ensure this situation was resolved!!

[goldensrbest]

That it  was legit ,worries me  ,i get those other e mails ,but i just delete, this is much different ,i stay logged in also.

[dooBdoo]

            I'm so sorry this happened to you, @JeanLouiseFinch.   Thanks for sharing and giving everyone a good reminder.

            I never remain logged into any website when I'm not using it, and I never leave financial source info saved to any site.    Both of those -- an open login and saved payment info -- are conveniences and they might make life a little easier at the time...  but they're invitations to criminals and they're not worth the potential nightmares that result from malicious people gaining access and misusing our accounts.

[Tinkrbl44]

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@JeanLouiseFinch wrote:

I've always believed my Amazon account was secure.  I shop the site often and have a few subscription orders with them.  This morning I discovered two emails that came in late last night.  The first one said per my request they changed the password associated with my account.  The second one said they have changed the email address associated with my account.  The trouble is, I didn't make either of those changes.  On the second email, they gave the new email address.  Don't laugh, but it's obviously in Russia.  The name before the "@" sounds Russian too.  I've been in touch with Amazon's CS.  The agent was able to tell me the last order I placed, which I verified, and she was also able to remove my credit card information.  I'm hoping and praying it's safe.  In the meantime, my account is suspended until the "team" can investigate and get back to me (24 hrs.).  When they call or email me, I want to find out if there's a secondary method to secure my accound besides only using a password...maybe two passwords or a password and a numeric code or phone number.  I have no idea how this rat selected me but it's rather unnerving.

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@JeanLouiseFinch

Glad it got sorted out, but the moral of the story is that nothing online is "secure".   

We hear stories all the time as to who now got hacked into ..... our government, hospitals, even facebook!   Nothing is 100% safe from hacking.

The best defense is to check all online accounts regularly, as well as all charges to our credit cards, which have fraud protection.   

Or buy nothing online ... ever.

[sunshine45]

this could easily have been an EMAIL scam to start with and then it enabled them to get into your amazon account.

if i were you i would change my EMAIL password also.

[dooBdoo]

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@sunshine45 wrote:

this could easily have been an EMAIL scam to start with and then it enabled them to get into your amazon account.

if i were you i would change my EMAIL password also.

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            Great point, @sunshine45!   I also want to add a note to everyone about website alerts.    For any site that offers alerts about activity on your account, please take time to review those and sign up for them.   Usually you can get email and/or text alerts.    I find that even though this generates a few more messages for me to check, it's well worth it.   

            It's a wonderful way to catch inappropriate activity quickly and act upon it.

[JeanLouiseFinch]

Interesting to note....

After doing the updates and restoring my account with a new password, I completely logged out of Amazon.  This was late yesterday afternoon, maybe early evening.  Anyway, I was completely logged out.  Right before 8PM, I received a new email about a request for a password change - something I had not requested.  I'm sure it was the bad guys attempting to take over my account again.  The email stated that if I had not initiated the request to change the password, I could safely ignore the email.  I'm convinced that had I not been completely logged out I would have had a repeat of the same problem.

 

[mimomof4]

I had something similar happen to me with Walmart.com.  I had Walmart completly cancel the account and delete it from their system.  I had only shopped walmart.com once.

While personally I can't stand Amazon, on Amazon I don't save my credit card info, instead opting for using Gift Cards instaed.  Amazon seems to me like an easy opportunity for a hack.  You would not believe the amount of companies who use Amazon services for hosting.  It wouldn't take that much to figure out how to hack in further.

[Spurt]

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@Nightowlz wrote:

I'm not really worried about it. I won't have to pay if someone uses my card. It's happened to us several times. I'm sure it will happen again. If someone uses your card & you still have your card & have not lost it the place the charges were made are the ones out of the money not the bank & not you.

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@Nightowlz

Yes, that's true, BUT will the info they captured (name, address etc) be used in some other way---opening an account under your name, or a gateway to gather more info on you for identity theft???

I was reading an article that even a name/address is worth something to online criminals..........

And if they have your name/address and live in your area.....Here is what on expert says: SCARY STUFF!!

It is theoretically probable that someone wanting RFID information can go to a bank of mailboxes and use one of the illegal readers. It is a felony on several counts, but the rewards are enticing, and made easier since they know your billing address (cards are always sent to the billing address).

Some mailboxes appear to be metal, but are not. Sometimes not enclosed enough to block RF on all six sides. Or a person with a reader can cruise down the street checking plastic mailboxes, or pulling open the front of the metal ones, especially where they are close together.

Worse yet, a postal employee could be doing it, in the mail sorting area of the USPS. Of course this would involve a more sophisticated piece of equipment to segregate the signals and data, but once again, rich rewards are quite enticing.