An Amazon shopper recently blasted the website for allowing repeated fraudulent charges to hit her account.
In a viral TikTok that has racked up over 1.1 million views as of Monday evening, Brooke Newmann (@brookenewmann) called out the company for the charges and gave a PSA to other shoppers.
“Let me be your lesson,” she began the clip. “This apparently happens a lot.”
@brookenewmann_ Replying to @Rachel Zahneis reminder to check all your bank accounts and credit catd statements!! #amazon #fyp #foryoupage ♬ original sound – Brooke
Newmann explained that she had received random charges to her account from Amazon for the “last year and a half.” The charges, she said, read “Amazon Prime, [Washington]… and then some letters and numbers.” Newmann said that she was charged $16.15 three times per month over the past year.
She added that Amazon was “smart” enough to begin with only a single charge per month before increasing the number of charges over time. At first, Newmann figured it must’ve been from a subscription she had from Amazon and didn’t look too deeply into the charges’ origins.
However, after becoming unemployed, she began to pay more attention to her finances and noticed something was amiss. The company was taking money directly from her checking account, which Newmann called “alarming.”
“I started to look into it more,” she said. “I Googled it online and, like, people on Reddit were saying this happened to them.”
Newmann then contacted Amazon for a full transaction history to confirm the charges, only to discover an unexpected surprise.
“There’s no $16.15 charges on there,” she continued.
Apparently, the charges weren’t actually from Amazon, and a fraudster was impersonating the company on her bank statements. That’s when Newmann said that she contacted Chase Bank.
“[The bank] told me, ‘Amazon is literally the least secure website. This happens all of the time,’” she said. Then Newmann offered up a piece of advice to viewers: “Never put your debit card—especially never put your credit card—on your Amazon account.”
Newmann said that her bank refused to issue her a full refund for the fraudulent charges because they only cover funds for incidents that happened within the last 60 days. As a result, she urged Amazon shoppers to always stay vigilant when using their personal accounts online.
In the comments section, many users shared similar stories of fraud they have experienced with the online retailer.
“This happened to me,” one user wrote. “3x on 3 accounts! I actually spoke to Amazon and they told me they can’t find the charges.”
“Always check your Amazon transactions too! I have returned things, got my refund and weeks later they charge me for the product again!!” another shared.
“Several times Amazon has tried to charge me for items I already returned,” a third viewer agreed. “They email me saying I didn’t return it when I did!!”
“Also pay attention to the Buy Now option- I was checking out that way and it was $7 more than if I added it to my cart to checkout,” a fourth user added.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Amazon and Chase Bank via email and to Newmann by TikTok comment.
