Amazon customer fears his data was ‘stolen’ by third party seller after order fell through
A shopper purchased a brand-new laptop from an Amazon Marketplace seller who later disappeared from the e-commerce site
AN Amazon shopper has expressed concern that his data may have been stolen after the purchase of a laptop fell through.
Shahadat Hossain from Barking bought a brand-new, high-spec YunSen laptop from an Amazon Marketplace seller for a bargain price.
Even though the £280 price tag seemed "too good to be true", he was reassured by the fact that it was being sold on Amazon, which he assumed would do checks on sellers to ensure that they are legitimate.
The hugely-successful Amazon Marketplace is populated with third party sellers that sell and ship their own goods.
But a month after Shahadat made the purchase, and with nothing in the post, he realised the laptop was not coming and he suspected he had been scammed.
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No money had been taken from his account, because when purchases are made on the Marketplace, funds are reserved by Amazon and given back to the buyer when an item isn't dispatched.
Because the seller wasn't paid for the transaction, Shahadat suspects the listing was fake and displayed rock-bottom prices to lure him in so criminals could steal his data.
When a shopper buys an item on Amazon, the seller is given the buyer's personal details - including their name, address, email and sometimes a phone number.
This information is financially valuable to criminals, who can go on to sell it on the dark web.
Amazon would not comment on whether people's details were at risk.
The Sun Online have seen similar reports on forums from other Amazon shoppers worried that their data has been stolen after their purchases fell through.
But he has seen similar listings from "newly launched" sellers on the e-commerce platform, who offer bargain prices before vanishing from the site.
He said: "At first I wondered why they would sell an item when they weren't getting any money, as Amazon doesn't pay the seller until the item has been dispatched.
How sellers can protect themselves on Amazon
-MONITOR your account on a frequent basis to check that everything is all in order
- Update your password regularly and use two-factor authentication
- Be wary of newly launched sellers, and check feedback for any negative comments
- If anything looks suspicious, contact Amazon immediately so that they can investigate.
"I quickly suspected that there must be another reason why they're setting up fake listings - to get people's data and sell it on for money.
"Since I made the purchase and the seller got my personal information, which included my address and phone number, I have had more marketing calls."
A spokesperson for Amazon said: "We want customers to buy with confidence anytime they make a purchase on Amazon.co.uk.
"With the A-to-z Guarantee, customers are always protected whether they make a purchase from Amazon or a third-party seller.
"If ever the product doesn’t arrive or isn’t as advertised, customers can contact customer support for a full refund of their order."
The spokesperson said that Amazon had a zero tolerance for fraud, and that it withholds payment to sellers until it is confident that customers have received the products and services they ordered.
"There have always been bad actors in the world; however, as fraudsters get smarter so do we.
"Amazon is constantly innovating on behalf of customers and sellers to ensure their information is secure and that they can buy and sell with confidence on Amazon.co.uk," they added.