Techcrunch report that a number of Amazon employees were sacked for disclosing customer email address and phone numbers to third parties. It wasn’t disclosed how many customer’s had their data shared or whether it was with merchants who had made sales to the customers or if it was another form of third party. It’s also possible that it was merchant information disclosed. Regardless, the Amazon employees were sacked and Amazon are supporting law enforcement in their prosecution.
Email from Amazon to affected customers
Hello,
We are writing to let you know that your e-mail address and phone number were disclosed by an Amazon employee to a third-party in violation of our policies. As a result, the employee has been terminated, and we are supporting law enforcement in their prosecution. No other information related to your account was shared. This is not a result of anything you have done, and there is no need for you to take action. If you receive unsolicited emails, please contact Customer Service at https://amazon.com/contact-us
Sincerely
Amazon Customer Service
This is not the first time Amazon we’ve that Amazon employees were sacked for disclosing customer date, although on previous occasions such as in May 2018, Amazon were more specific saying that the email addresses were shared with merchants. In that case both the employees were sacked and the merchants blocked from selling on the site.
2 Responses
Blimey, Amazon’s power increases by the minute – ‘the employee has been terminated’, poor soul.
I purchased an item on Amazon around 2 months ago – yesterday, I received an obviously dubious email pretending to be from the original seller. It offered a gift, I would be likely to want, for being one of their customers. They were asking for the original Amazon order number.
They obviously had got my email address, knew the item purchased on Amazon and, I guess, based their freebie offer on my Amazon browsing history.
All a bit scary.