Angelika In November 2023, two dubious letters from amazon.de landed in our snail mail mailbox with a postmark from Malta and a letterhead with the Amazon logo, which wasn't even in color. Allegedly, I had ordered something from Amazon, but the direct debit could not be processed, and I now supposedly owed Amazon 101 euros each, which I was requested to promptly transfer to the banking institution HSBC Trinkhaus and Burkhardt.

Neither letter said precisely what I had allegedly ordered. Also, it was strange that I had received two separate letters with the exact same demand, both sent to my American address. Sadly, nowadays, scammers are becoming increasingly cunning. By now, it's well-known that one should not respond to any payment requests via email or SMS. So, I suspected that this must be a new snail mail scheme to scam people.

And since I don't have a German Amazon account but only an American one, and there were no strange orders there, Michael and I initially ignored the letters, believing it to be a bold attempt at fraud. I did some research on the internet and found that other Amazon customers had experienced the same thing. There were two explanations for these letters: first, that the letters were not genuine. The second, more concerning explanation suggested that someone was using my data to set up an account in my name on Amazon, but with incorrect banking details. It's still not entirely clear to me how this could be exploited, but let me highlight the absurdity that Amazon in Germany allows customers to shop both by invoice and direct debit, and seems little interested in closing the fraud opportunities that this opens up.

You guessed it, the story continues. In February, again via a grey envelope sent from the tiny country of Malta, a letter arrived from the debt collection agency Riverty. Here, too, it wasn't clear whether it was a very good forgery or a legitimate claim. According to the internet, Amazon actually does work with this collection agency. With debt collection firms, you always get the impression that they are essentially an arm of the Mafia. The letter was also full of red flags, such as the suggestion that I could set up a SEPA direct debit mandate and then the collection agency would take care of everything, and I would have no hassle.

Now, I know that you shouldn't randomly call any phone numbers listed on such letters, as they might also link to scammers. So I thought, first I would contact amazon.de to see if they could help, because an internet inquiry revealed that such letters should not be completely ignored due to the possibility of identity theft.

So, I logged in with my American Amazon account credentials on the German Amazon site and started a chat because I wanted to have something in writing. I had only had positive experiences with Amazon's American customer service up to that point; they are sharp and always solve problems immediately. Naively, I thought that Amazon Germany applied similar standards.

It initially took me three attempts before anyone understood what my problem was and was willing to help me. At first, I wasn't even sure if I was speaking to a machine or a person. The first piece of information I received was that I had received the reminder due to a technical problem and should ignore the email.

Wait, stop, you attentive readers noticed it. I hadn't received an email, but two letters by mail! Then I was promised that my inquiry would be forwarded to the appropriate department and that I would receive a copy of this inquiry and could expect a response in 2-3 hours. Neither one happened.

On the next attempt, I was simply told that I had not paid for a so-called Amazon Kids subscription and that was why I received the reminders. It goes without saying that I had already explained to the lady named 'Meri' that I had not ordered anything and did not have a German Amazon account. When I asked her if she could at least tell me if someone had created an account in my name, she wrote in the chat that she could not tell me that for data protection reasons. That's just scream-worthy.

She also promised to forward my concern to the security department, and that they would then contact me. I'm still waiting for that. On the third attempt, I spoke with the agent Kirtiman Singh Rajavat, and he finally took decisive action. He instructed me to send the reminders and the letter from the debt collection agency to a special email address at Amazon, which I did. It was not exactly confidence-inspiring that the request was full of typos, but I then received a message that no further action was required on my part for the time being.

Although I was again told that I would receive further feedback, I am still waiting for it to this day. Madness! I am still not sure if the matter is now closed or if I will soon receive a letter from a German court. Sometimes I really long for the days when you could simply pay in cash for merchandize in real stores.

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Hassle With the Health Insurance
  	Anza Borrego Desert
  	Salton Sea
  	New City Hiking Website: hikethiscity.com
  	Top Product: The Flexible Cable Organizer
  	Whitewashing Greta