The Federal Trade Commission is fining Amazon $2.25 million over allegations that the retail giant regularly denied records requests from identity theft victims. The U.S. agency accused Amazon of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act.Per an FTC press release, a complaint was filed by the Department of Justice as a referral from the FTC. It alleged that Amazon failed to comply with Section 609(e) of the FCRA, which requires companies to provide victims of identity theft with records about transactions made in their name within 30 days of a consumer's request.FTC accusations against Amazon
Amazon apparently did not have a written policy for responding to 609(e) requests until last year.Amazon often put identity theft victims through a Kafkaesque ordeal by demanding they identify the thief who stole their information before Amazon would release the records.Christopher Mufarrige, FTC“Amazon often put identity theft victims through a Kafkaesque ordeal by demanding they identify the thief who stole their information before Amazon would release the records the law entitles them to—records that could help victims protect themselves and recover from the fraudulent conduct,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection said in the release.The complaint claims that customers who reached out to Amazon were often told that the requested records could not be provided for "security" or "privacy" reasons. In one provided example, a consumer tried to get business records related to unauthorized charges from a fraudulent account. However, Amazon reportedly refused for security reasons unless the consumer "guessed the name on the [fraudulent] account," which they were unable to do.Penalties and resolution
