I've been doing $1000/mo. A<-->B for about a year now with no incident.

I signed up for an AP account using my legit Amazon (store) account. I had accumulated like 20 cards registered in that account from normal purchasing over the years. When the AP account was activated they hit all these cards with a $1.00 preauth... without my permission or even a mention of it! I find this extremely slimy. Not to mention the inconvenience of having a purchase declined because you had $1 less than you thought.

It's not a huge deal sure, but it still pisses me off. I would not expect these tactics from a legitimate company like AMZN.

Yea I noticed the same thing. Even when my sister registered, she has a card on her acct that is mine due to it being a 5x card that I let her make purchases on. I was super surprised and scared when I saw the $1 until I realized that it was just an authorization hold.

That sounds like a good way for them to detect a name mismatch and then get out the ban hammer, no? Especially if your sister is in your sending loop.

She's not using the card on AP. Only legitimate purchases.

So I have been running a conga line of friends and family for years. All accounts are unique with a different social. I directly managed 10 of these accounts. Last month I saw two get shut down and were accused of having 'duplicate accounts'. None of the accounts were duplicate, but a husband and wife might have the same credit card number or bank account. This month saw a massacre. Out of a group of maybe 25 accounts about 15 were shut down. I'm down to a few accounts which had no overlapping information with any other accounts. They are definitely using a social networking analysis tool and something that is building out link diagrams based on entity management. This is similar to what paypal uses, but paypal is obviously much more advanced.

All of the things that weren't an issue for years: logging in from the same IP, sharing bank or credit card numbers, etc are all big no no's now.

Well if you used the same exact bank account or CC for more than one AP account, IMHO one does not have the right to act surprised when you get nailed. That's asking for it in a comical way. Husband and wife or not. Bank accounts are free, plentiful, and easy to open instantly.

How good is their so-called identity verification? I mean since they don't ask for a DL number. Where do they pull this information from? i.e. if I have a hypothetical daughter who has never had a CC or any account whatsoever, her SSN would not necessarily show up at any bureau.

^ +1

The surprising part is that it has not been an issue for more than 3 years. I am just demonstrating the shift in action and policy. Also in the past if the accounts were shut for 'duplicate accounts' it was possible to have Amazon reopen them once examined. That is no longer the case. They will not even respond to emails.

As for the identity verification, it is doing a soft credit pull and if there is no credit history they cannot verify the account and it will be suspended.

This this this.

Soft pull on which CRA? Do you happen to know?

Looks like it's time for me to post some ads on Craigslist again for some donated identities. You wouldn't believe how cheaply people will hand over everything to you. Last time I had to pull the ads after an hour because my inbox was filled. I guess they just want a few bucks to snort their heroin or whatever they do with it. I had one girl ready to give me the SSNs for three of her kids. I told her no thanks.

Equifax IIRC.

Say what!?!

Hello,

As an Amazon Payments account holder, we are required by law to provide a quarterly notification of your account activity.
You can view your Amazon Payments account activity online at https://payments.amazon.com/.

Using your Amazon Payments account you can:
1. Shop across the web without sharing your payment information, re-entering your shipping address or credit card number.
2. Send Money to friends and family.
As always, there's no charge to hold an Amazon Payments account, transfer money from your bank account to your Amazon Payments account, or shop across the web using your Amazon Payments account.

Thank you.

Ironic, that if you do that you get shut down...

If you fund the money you send via a bank transfer, I don't think they would be shutting you down.