I don't recognize an Amazon Prime charge - Round and round we go.

[PWMDMD]

I noticed a charge on one of my business credit cards for an Amazon Prime charge for $16.45. I have a few Prime accounts for various businesses I own and I checked all of them and none of them use this credit card - I assume it's fraudulent. No one else has use of this card.

I called Amazon and they asked for the charge amount, the credit card number, and the charge ID. I checked my Amex statement and it has a number on it but apparently not the charge ID. The Amazon person looked and said they can't find any charges on that credit card at Amazon. I stated to her that I'm staring at my statement and it's there - she needed the charge ID and couldn't help me until I obtained that.

I called Amex and they were able to give me the charge ID. I called Amazon and I explained the situation to them including I have several Prime accounts and none use that credit card. He took the charge ID number and stated it appears to be a legit account. I asked him which account it was funding and he couldn't tell me but if I guessed it, he'd then tell me. So I start rattling off my various Amazon sign-ins and he's replying no, no, nope. I then asked if it was a business account or personal and he said personal. I reiterated that this would never be on a personal account and then he told me the first letter starts with K. I again reiterated that I do not and have never had an account anywhere with a signin for anything that started with a K. He said well then it sounds fraudulent and he will kick it over to fraud department.

An hour later, I get an email from the Amazon fraud department stating there appears to be no fraudulent activity on the account and no changes were made. Amex said they can cancel the card but automatic charges will continue and move over to the new card automatically. Sigh...

So I'm paying for someone else's Prime but can't cancel it because I don't have access to someone else's account? I wasted 2 hours on this yesterday just to receive that email from Amazon's fraud department. My guess is someone used my name with a different sign-on and when they look it up, it has my name on the account and my name on credit card.

Thought? Ideas?

 

[jmo42]

You’ll need to resolve this with AmEx, not Amazon. Amazon is unfortunately not going to help you out since you don’t own the account that’s committing fraud.

Call AmEx and specifically do these 2 things:

1. Report an unauthorized fraudulent charge on your card
2. File a chargeback for the fraudulent charge

Make it clear to AmEx that your card has been compromised and used fraudulently. They should have processes in place to deal with this, reverse the charge, and issue you a new card without transferring the Amazon charge to it.

You might also try saying something to this effect to the AmEx customer service rep to be extra clear:

“I need a replacement card due to fraud, and I need you to explicitly opt this card out of the automatic billing / account updater service so that this merchant cannot automatically roll over the fraudulent charge to the new credit card account number.”

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Amex said they can cancel the card but automatic charges will continue and move over to the new card automatically.

That makes absolutely no sense. The whole point of cancelling the card is to stop exactly that from happening.

 

[PWMDMD]

That makes absolutely no sense. The whole point of cancelling the card is to stop exactly that from happening.

CSR had a very thick accent and was difficult to understand - I THINK they were treating it as if I lost my card and not fraud. I'm on the phone with Amex now and I made it clear it's fraud. Thankfully, this person seems more with it - reviewing my account right now. The whole experience yesterday was very frustrating.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Amex is usually great. Maybe they misunderstood? Amazon is a nightmare until you find the right person/department

 

[Hall]

That makes absolutely no sense. The whole point of cancelling the card is to stop exactly that from happening.

I don't think is that uncommon and my credit union said the same thing can happen when the charges come from "known" companies. They say they do this so that customers can get any recurring bills updated to the new card vs having a charge declined. Imagine you have some utilities on auto-pay and life is busy - service(s) could get shut-off for non-payment. I can kinda see why they allow it, but maybe they need an option to exclude this "roll-over" option to companies you can specify.

 

[JohnnyG]

If you request a replacement card, old recurring charges will automatically be applied to the new card. That's just the way it is now.
I just did that with a Visa card, one of which my wife lost somehow in the house...

Now if you report a fraudulent charge, and not a replacement card, the charge is handled differently, even though a replacement card may be issued.

 

[mrvmax]

You’ll need to resolve this with AmEx, not Amazon. Amazon is unfortunately not going to help you out since you don’t own the account that’s committing fraud.

Call AmEx and specifically do these 2 things:

1. Report an unauthorized fraudulent charge on your card
2. File a chargeback for the fraudulent charge

Make it clear to AmEx that your card has been compromised and used fraudulently. They should have processes in place to deal with this, reverse the charge, and issue you a new card without transferring the Amazon charge to it.

You might also try saying something to this effect to the AmEx customer service rep to be extra clear:

“I need a replacement card due to fraud, and I need you to explicitly opt this card out of the automatic billing / account updater service so that this merchant cannot automatically roll over the fraudulent charge to the new credit card account number.”

This^

 

[fat biker]

Note to yor State Attorney General?

 

[Nukeman7]

Also, can't you log into that Amex account via phone app or computer and place a lock on the card immediately until it is cancelled?

 

[PWMDMD]

So just got off the phone and the CSR from yesterday was definitely not picking up what I was putting down. I was transferred to the fraud department but not before I heard the first CSR mumble, "What did this guy do yesterday?" as he read the notes. Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[alarmguy]

I’m trying to make sense of the OP
Maybe this might sound too simplistic, but I wouldn’t have even gone through any of that.
All one has to do is click that you did not make that charge. Problem solved.

You’re not responsible for any charges that you did not make. Problem solved unless they could prove that you did make it. No further thought needed.

 

[Elkins45]

I had a similar experience but with my Amazon Visa card. Someone was charging their monthly Prime membership to my credit card. I’m embarrassed to say they did it for several months before it dawned on me that we had paid an annual membership, not monthly. They gave me back the fraudulent charges and changed my card number. They wouldn’t tell me who had been using my card. I would love to know if they suffered any consequences.

 

[PWMDMD]

I’m trying to make sense of the OP
Maybe this might sound too simplistic, but I wouldn’t have even gone through any of that.
All one has to do is click that you did not make that charge. Problem solved.

You’re not responsible for any charges that you did not make. Problem solved unless they could prove that you did make it. No further thought needed.

Unfortunately, not that simple. I tried that last week on the Amex website and it came back "As per your CM Agreement and/or merchant policies, we are unable to investigate this charge. Please contact the merchant directly."


That's why I contacted Amazon directly yesterday. Trust me, I HATE the phone, and if there's a way to do it online, I'll find it!

 

[PWMDMD]

Also, can't you log into that Amex account via phone app or computer and place a lock on the card immediately until it is cancelled?

I believe recurring charges are still allowed, even if you freeze the card.

 

[D60]

I had a REALLY weird thing of Amazon shipping me products and they were charged to one of my cards, but not on my Amazon ACCOUNT.

I got lucky with a fairly competent rep, and all I had to provide was the shipping tracking numbers, which she was able to reference. She confirmed it was not my Amazon account, but wouldn't tell me who/what it was. I made it clear they should investigate that account because something fishy was going on.

Amazon refunded my money and told me to donate or dispose of the items -- it was small, random stuff that my household wouldn't use or have on a wish list or anything

 

[The_Jeff]

That makes absolutely no sense. The whole point of cancelling the card is to stop exactly that from happening.

They want it to be "convenient" for your "subscription services" like magazines that bill annually to get the new card info. Wouldn't you know it, all the scams are also subscriptions!

If you can live with closing this Amex account, do so.

As far as chargebacks go, you didn't make the charges and you made an attempt to handle it with the merchant. That's all that's legally required. Send Amex a snail mail letter saying the charge(s) aren't yours.

 

[Hall]

All one has to do is click that you did not make that charge. Problem solved.

I think in PWMDMD's case (correct me if I'm wrong), he/she wasn't 100% certain that it was not a valid charge. Could have been an oversight by someone that has the card details (employees) or something. At least 1-2 times a year, my wife or I will ask each other "do you know what this charge from X for $Y is for?". Luckily, so far they've all been valid charges, just had names different than the place we made the charge.

They want it to be "convenient" for your "subscription services" like magazines that bill annually to get the new card info.

The company submitting the charge doesn't get your new card #. It's the CC processor or Visa, Mastercard, etc that let it process. They do have a cut-off for this "convenience" too so it won't work forever.

 

[alarmguy]

Unfortunately, not that simple. I tried that last week on the Amex website and it came back "As per your CM Agreement and/or merchant policies, we are unable to investigate this charge. Please contact the merchant directly."


That's why I contacted Amazon directly yesterday. Trust me, I HATE the phone, and if there's a way to do it online, I'll find it!


View attachment 342542

It’s so strange. I don’t know your agreement with AMEX but typically a charge card company cannot make you pay a charge unless they prove it was you who made it.

I’m not questioning you, but think about that. Anyone including the charge card company could put charges on your account and make you pay it. I’m missing something in the equation because you can’t be forced to pay something that you didn’t use your card for.

After reading this, maybe it’s not as black and white as my lifelong experience has been.
Clearly, your case is different experience than mine for some reason and it may be valid. Just depends if you wanna fight it or not.

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/using-credit-cards-and-disputing-charges#additional

 

[Pew]

We had the same thing on our company's AMEX a month or two ago. I can ask our accounting ladies and see if they got any headway with it if you like.