Closing an Amazon.uk account.

[George J]

I am more and more convinced that the internet is the most disastrous invention since the Atom Bomb.

In the last month I have had several attacks on my Amazon account, presumably by folk who would fraudulently happily buy themselves goodies on my bank balance.

This year, I have bought two old [deleted ]CDs on Amazon and in the olden days if a CD [or LP] was deleted, you had to wait for the re-issue.

However, I don't need or particularly want any more CDs or DVDs.

But closing an Amazon account is not so funnily easy. I had to politely throw bombs twice with Amazon to finally remove the risk that any purchase can be made with the sponsorship of my bank account.

I stopped Papal more than five years ago, and intend never to buy online again.

If you cannot buy it in Bromyard, you don't need it. Good advice in my view.

Just a thought, and best wishes from George

 

[Bob McC]

Too late George, that horse has bolted…

 

[Tony Lockhart]

I’ve not, so far, suffered any of this stuff in about 20 years.

 

[garyi]

George if someone has successfully infiltrated your Amazon account twice then this would indicate your password is poor.

get a password manager and have stupid long passwords.

don’t fall for any emails coming in, always manually goto the website in question and see if the message is there.

never use the same password twice

 

[narabdela]

This /\/\/\/\/\/\/\

 

[simon g]

& turn on 2FA

 

[George J]

George if someone has successfully infiltrated your Amazon account twice then this would indicate your password is poor.

get a password manager and have stupid long passwords.

don’t fall for any emails coming in, always manually goto the website in question and see if the message is there.

never use the same password twice

Dear Gary,

I received a text message, which indicated that "an Attempt" had been made to access my [now former] Amazon account. Nothing had been ordered, so quite how far the crooks got trying to get in I do not know.

Interestingly, after my second phone call where I asked to move to email for the conversation, the account was closed by next day. I have archived the emails, to preserve the record.

I have a rather strong password, though I really only use it for access to Flickr and PFM, and I use an even more complex version of it for Gmail etc. All the Google stuff.

Best wishes from George

 

[webster]

I have a rather strong password, though I really only use it for access to Flickr and PFM

Having the same password for more than one account is not the best idea imho.
As mentioned above a good password manager is your friend.

 

[gintonic]

Dear Gary,

I received a text message, which indicated that "an Attempt" had been made to access my [now former] Amazon account. Nothing had been ordered, so quite how far the crooks got trying to get in I do not know.

Interestingly, after my second phone call where I asked to move to email for the conversation, the account was closed by next day. I have archived the emails, to preserve the record.

I have a rather strong password, though I really only use it for access to Flickr and PFM, and I use an even more complex version of it for Gmail etc. All the Google stuff.

Best wishes from George

please George, have a very different password for every account and use a password manager. If you use the same or variations of the same password, and if one is cracked then the others are highly vulnerable to being cracked

 

[Ellenor]

I am more and more convinced that the internet is the most disastrous invention since the Atom Bomb.

Now there’s another discussion we can all have one rainy day

 

[Vinny]

The email suggesting that your Amazon account had been accessed sounds like phishing to me.

You do not have to close the account - just change the credit card details in it to fictional ones (I suspect that you cannot delete them??????).

 

[gintonic]

The email suggesting that your Amazon account had been accessed sounds like phishing to me.

I was wondering the same. The more I think about it, the more I think this is way more the likely scenario.

An individual targeted hack of an Amazon account seems unlikely. Unless yhe password had been compromised and the data sold on as part of larger list of stolen data.

I don't know what Amazon do in the event of multiple failed login attempts, but I assume like most sensible organisations, they would lock the account and invoke an extra identity check? If they do, then trying to login to your account would use extra checks. If you just managed to login as normal, I'd say you've been phished.

 

[George J]

The email suggesting that your Amazon account had been accessed sounds like phishing to me.

You do not have to close the account - just change the credit card details in it to fictional ones (I suspect that you cannot delete them??????).

All the email asked me was to confirm I definitely want the account closed. I confirmed that.

Trying to log into my former Amazon account now produces the message, "Username not recognised," so the account would appear closed. That is good enough for me.

Best wishes from George

 

[Vinny]

One thing is for sure - Amazon, presumably security, is weird.

Over the past year or so I have added an LP to my basket - different ones - on 3-4 occasions, and when I have tried to pay, the system says that the LP cannot be delivered to my address, but could be delivered to my nearest Amazon Hub, maybe half a mile away. The LPs that could not be delivered must have been one in 20 or one in 50 of LPs that I buy from Amazon, and no other item has ever produced the same message - cannot be delivered.

Last week, when it happened, I changed my address to next-door - that was accepted. I invented an address on my postcode, that was accepted. I then changed the addressee (me) from using my intials to using my full first name, and that was accepted. The order included 2 LPs, only one wasn't deliverable to my home address. Figure that one out!!!!

I chatted online with Amazon help, before I changed my account name, and they had no idea what was happening..........................

 

[Jezzer]

The email suggesting that your Amazon account had been accessed sounds like phishing to me.

You do not have to close the account - just change the credit card details in it to fictional ones (I suspect that you cannot delete them??????).

100% sounds like a phishing attempt. Amazon security is tighter than a gnats arse because ultimately their entire business model depends on customers being able to have trust in the platform…

 

[russel]

Check for viruses, the passwords may have been harvested.

 

[garyi]

George, just check that the email defo originated from amazon otherwise someone has ceased your account.

 

[wow&flutter]

I can proudly say I have only used Amazon once and only because I was given a gift card maybe five years ago for Christmas. Bought a pair of AKG headphones and never looked at it again, Bezos ain’t getting rich from me.

Bought an iPad from John Lewis maybe ten years ago and never been back in there since either!

 

[garyi]

Um, well done?

 

[George J]

George, just check that the email defo originated from amazon otherwise someone has ceased your account.

Dear Gary,

While I am not going to post the contents of the Amazon email
[[email protected]],
this is clearly a correct communication with Amazon, and not something else.

The sole link in the email takes you straight to the main Amazon page, for one thing, and the other is the timing. Firstly a long phone call, followed literally minutes later by the email arriving as per my spoken request.

And then the fact that my account simply no longer exists, as my username is not recognised.

To be fair the whole process was far from as easy as I would like, but it has convinced me that whatever benefits can come from Amazon, not least buying deleted CDs, these do not amount to a benefit compared to the apparent risks.

I gave up on eBay years ago, and I had bought a good many parts for my old Carlton road bike about twelve years ago. Since then the only thing I bought was my old Leak Trough-Line radio tuner. By then I had stopped PayPal, so had to get the seller to agree to accepting and clearing a personal cheque, and I then collected the radio. It was local to me, so no problem, and far preferable to trusting a courier service. Heavy, and delicate valve based electronics do not take kindly to being treated roughly!

Thank you for the kind reply.

Best wishes from George