Credit card issues

AilsMal

I don't know if this the right board, but I'll explain my situation....I'm really just looking for thoughts/advice - I know I should have thought about this possibility sooner, I'm a fool.

I have to emphasise that I never misplaced/lost my credit cards - I always knew where they were. Back in 2007/2008 the balances sometimes seemed higher than what I was expecting, however I bought a lot on Amazon so it never crossed my mind to double-check every transaction that had 'Amazon' next to it. At least 3 times within that period I received a call from the card issuer asking me if I was using iTunes at that moment as someone was trying to use the card for payment - I didn't use iTunes then - and the card would consequently be blocked and replaced. I never linked the two, as I've said I wasn't particularly suspicious of the Amazon charges and iTunes thing.....well I couldn't explain it.

At the time I was staying in an apartment that a caretaker had keys to. The only time I didn't have my cards to hand was when I went for a walk around the country estate the apartment I was living in was located in - the cards would be left in the apartment - I'd be out for an hour or two at a time, so anyone aware of doors opening and shutting (only myself and the caretaker's family lived in the property) would know who was in.

Occasionally the owner of the estate would be in residence, but he spent the majority of his time in London......his rooms were a tip and scattered everywhere were his cards. In time it turned out that the caretaker's son had been using these cards on Amazon, ordering stuff and reselling to his school mates. He got caught in 2011, was charged and got a stupidly lenient sentence, the total they could prove was around £6,000.

No more rambling. My question is, would there be any way of finding out from Amazon if my card had ever been used as payment for an account registered under any other name? Needless to say, the answer should be no. I don't currently have the card number, but I'm sure I could get it from my old provider. I even wonder if the little git opened up an account in my name with a different email address? The billing and delivery addresses would have been virtually identical for both accounts. I'm more inclined to think he did it using an account in his name as my name for delivery would have brought a massive risk with it - I ran the local PO/Sorting Office and any packet for me, regardless of address, was virtually always handed to me at work or the postie would mention something had been left .

I can't be sure I was scammed like the owner, but the more I think about it, the more likely it seems. Is it worth trying to chase up?

LilElvis

AilsMal wrote: »

I don't know if this the right board, but I'll explain my situation....I'm really just looking for thoughts/advice - I know I should have thought about this possibility sooner, I'm a fool.

I have to emphasise that I never misplaced/lost my credit cards - I always knew where they were. Back in 2007/2008 the balances sometimes seemed higher than what I was expecting, however I bought a lot on Amazon so it never crossed my mind to double-check every transaction that had 'Amazon' next to it. At least 3 times within that period I received a call from the card issuer asking me if I was using iTunes at that moment as someone was trying to use the card for payment - I didn't use iTunes then - and the card would consequently be blocked and replaced. I never linked the two, as I've said I wasn't particularly suspicious of the Amazon charges and iTunes thing.....well I couldn't explain it.

At the time I was staying in an apartment that a caretaker had keys to. The only time I didn't have my cards to hand was when I went for a walk around the country estate the apartment I was living in was located in - the cards would be left in the apartment - I'd be out for an hour or two at a time, so anyone aware of doors opening and shutting (only myself and the caretaker's family lived in the property) would know who was in.

Occasionally the owner of the estate would be in residence, but he spent the majority of his time in London......his rooms were a tip and scattered everywhere were his cards. In time it turned out that the caretaker's son had been using these cards on Amazon, ordering stuff and reselling to his school mates. He got caught in 2011, was charged and got a stupidly lenient sentence, the total they could prove was around £6,000.

No more rambling. My question is, would there be any way of finding out from Amazon if my card had ever been used as payment for an account registered under any other name? Needless to say, the answer should be no. I don't currently have the card number, but I'm sure I could get it from my old provider. I even wonder if the little git opened up an account in my name with a different email address? The billing and delivery addresses would have been virtually identical for both accounts. I'm more inclined to think he did it using an account in his name as my name for delivery would have brought a massive risk with it - I ran the local PO/Sorting Office and any packet for me, regardless of address, was virtually always handed to me at work or the postie would mention something had been left .

I can't be sure I was scammed like the owner, but the more I think about it, the more likely it seems. Is it worth trying to chase up?

Even if Amazon were prepared to give you this information they almost certainly won't have it any more as it will have been archived or destroyed/deleted.

What finally made the penny drop 5 years after this boy was convicted?

cookie365

Of course Amazon aren't going to go through their entire order database looking for a particular card number.

And even if they did, they aren't going to tell you about anybody else's orders.

unholyangel

OP if you're really interested, log into your account and reconcile your order history with your bank accounts. If you click on order details it will even tell you the last 4 digits of the card used.

AilsMal

LilElvis the penny dropped a while ago - I was sorting out stuff for a PPI claim, it was just something I was curious about. I've been lurking on these boards for years without ever posting. Other than the fact that a creepy little git was going through my belongings it bothers me that Amazon would allow a card to be registered to an account with a different name, but the same address - it seems like the thing that should flag up as suspicious and warrant checking on their end. I remember the near monthly training I used to get in the PO for money laundering and 'suspicious' transactions and to me this is something that should have rung alarm bells somewhere.

Incidentally a few other things went AWOL, things of no value like photos and a deluxe scrabble board......stuff you don't miss straight away. The scrabble wasn't missed until the first 24 hour power-cut of the winter. To this day I don't believe it was all down to the boy in question, he'd have to have started when he was 8 (that's when the owner first had issues with his cards, but never chased it up) and at 15 he was still thick as two short planks. I honestly think it was his older brother who started it and he simply continued. I fully expect to see the older brother featured on one of those documentaries on the CI channel - to say he would make your skin crawl is the understatement of the century.

meer53

My son and i both have Amazon accounts, we live at the same address, why would Amazon question it ?

sheramber

One of my husband's credit cards is registered on my Amazon account but it shows his name against it. My name is against my own card.