The retailer allegedly failed to meet the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Amazon has agreed to pay $2.25 million in civil penalties to settle a case with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission involving victims of identity theft. The regulator said the tech giant violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by refusing to provide these victims and, in some cases, law enforcement, transaction records of its online retail business. We have contacted Amazon for comment on the settlement and will update this article if we receive a response.
The FCRA requires businesses to provide individuals whose identities have been stolen with records of fraudulent transactions made in their name within 30 days of the consumer’s request. The FTC complaint claimed that Amazon customer service representatives denied some of these customer requests for security or privacy reasons, while in other cases, company agents allegedly told victims that they were unable to access necessary records. In some cases where Amazon provided the information, it occurred outside of this 30-day window.
