Like lots of people, I have an Amazon account. And in that Amazon account I had a credit card listed as for payments.
When I looked at my credit card statement last month I noticed a charge for $299.00. I did not remember what I bought for $299.00, so I tried to figure out what it was.
I looked at my order history and did not see having purchased anything for $299.00.
Then I tried to call Amazon. Surprise! Their phone number is NOT prominently displayed on their website.
I eventually stumbled across an order for “gift cards”. Well I knew I had not purchased any gift cards for $299.00, so I realized that was the fraud. Turns out someone in Delaware bought a gift card and then used that gift card to buy an Oculus headset and have it delivered to himself. Ouch.
(And by the way, Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon, if you’re reading this: It was really not obvious how to find that charge. As I mentioned, it was NOT in my list of regular orders. I just tried to re-create the search and I think Amazon erased it.)
When I confirmed to myself that the mysterious charge was fraudulent, I contacted my credit card company; they very nicely “stopped payment” on the $299.00. The credit card company cancelled that card and sent me a new one.
As a backstop, I added to my Amazon account a feature that to complete an order Amazon texts me a six digit number that I must enter in order to complete the purchase.
So: Two morals to this story.
First, look at your credit card statements and track down charges you don’t recognize.
Second, promptly dispute charges that you don’t recognize.
You can do this yourself, of course, so you don’t need to call me about this. But if I can help with other legal problems, call my office at 320-252-4473.
