Amazon has agreed to pay $2.25 million in civil penalties to settle a case brought by the US Federal Trade Commission over how the company handled records requests from identity theft victims.
The FTC said Amazon violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which requires companies to provide people whose identities have been stolen with records of fraudulent transactions made in their names. Companies must deliver those records within 30 days of a consumer's request.
According to Engadget, Amazon customer service representatives denied some of those requests on the basis of security or privacy concerns. In other cases, agents allegedly told victims they were not able to access the necessary records. In some instances where Amazon did provide the information, it came outside the required 30-day window.
The complaint also stated that Amazon in some cases refused to provide records to law enforcement agencies investigating identity theft cases.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act requirement exists to help victims document fraudulent activity and take steps to protect themselves after their identities have been stolen. When companies fail to provide those records, victims can face additional difficulty disputing charges, correcting credit reports, or cooperating with investigations.
Amazon did not immediately provide a comment in response to the settlement.