Tiny, fraudulent Amazon charges added up to hundreds of dollars for customers of one of the nation's largest banks.
Sisters Iysha and Sheyna Burt both shop on Amazon.
“I was a Prime member, so it was shipped for free and it was so quick, and I could just get on my computer and get whatever I needed that quick,” Iysha Burt said.
Recently, her sister saw a friend's Facebook post warning about unauthorized Amazon charges on Wells Fargo accounts. The Burts both have Wells Fargo debit cards.
“And I said to my sister, 'Hey, wonder if that's a thing we should check,' and she checked, and sure enough, she found hundreds of dollars, and I thought, 'Oh, maybe I should check,' and I found almost $200 worth of these little, teeny charges you would never notice,” Sheyna Burt said.
The Burts each had unauthorized charges to Amazon dating back months.
They called Wells Fargo immediately, canceled their cards and started to spread the word.
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“Everyone in my social circle, when I brought this issue up, they all said, 'Well, wait a minute, I have a charge,' and, 'Wait, I saw some charges, too,' and they just thought nothing of it because they, too, purchase things from Amazon all the time,” Iysha Burt said.
Wells Fargo and Amazon said they are working together to address the issue and believe it has been fixed.
"This unfortunate experience is debit card fraud,” Wells Fargo said. “No Wells Fargo systems or accounts have been breached."
The bank wouldn't say how many customers were affected, but it appears limited to Virginia customers.
Wells Fargo reimbursed Sheyna Burt more than $150 and Iysha Burt about $350, though she had lost about $500. The bank’s police is to only reimburse fraudulent transactions that occur in the first 60 days, but Amazon agreed to reimburse Iysha Burt for the charges the bank did not.
Wells Fargo did not discuss the details about the fraud or the specific actions they've taken to protect the effectiveness of its security measures. The bank’s advice is to keep a close eye on your accounts and report the first sign of anything suspicious.
“If you were careful and you looked at your checking account and you reconciled it like you're supposed to, you would notice it,” Sheyna Burt said.
Reported by Susan Hogan, produced by Meredith Royster and edited by Perkins Broussard.
