Fraud possible prison HELP

[Trying2611]

Ok so I don’t know what else to do just looking for some advice really haven’t been able to sleep or eat for the past 2 days

So about 2 years ago I worked for a family run company placed afew orders for them via my Amazon account didn’t think anything of it.

Fast forward to now 2 years later new job no contact with the old company since I left 2 years ago.
had an email from Amazon who advised they had a number of disputed transactions on my account, Turns out some of the purchases made by me on my account had been charged to my old employers card for some purchases for the past 2 years!!!! Not every purchase I had made but around 15 purchases total to a sum of around £250! Just lots of small purchases added up £15 here £6 there nothing I would of noticed not coming out of my bank

I really don’t know how this has happened I’m thinking I order that much shit half asleep (2 kids work full time) just generally not paying attention at the checkout and also not even knowing the card was saved on my Amazon account!! It’s just a swipe to purchase on Amazon not like you have to put any other card details in when checking out ! I genuinely did not make these purchases on purpose I know I should of checked at the checkout I will never make this mistake again but FUCK

This has only just come to light as my ex employer has questioned the charges with the bank and now an investigation is pending , I have tried to contact my old employer explaining the situation no response, I have also called 111 for advice they said I just have to wait for the bank to investigate on there side

but FUCK am I going to prison I don’t know what to do I’m out of my mind with worry that I’m going to get arrested for fraud.

I hope no one has been as truly stupid as me to make this mistake but any kind of advice would mean the world right now everytime a car drive pasts the house I think I’m going to get handcuffed away 😭

Honestly though the dramatics!

Just tell your old employer you’ll play them back - end of story.

I’ve had this with Amazon lately. My default card is my debit card, but I’ve had a handful of transactions over the past few months charged to my credit card. I didn’t change it, and I think they were one swipe purchases too. As they were all low value, I only noticed when I checked my credit card statement.

@Trying2611
Presumably a check can be done on your Amazon account to show that it does switch between cards without you needing to authorise. That's really the key factor here.

I'm not suggesting you've had any intent to be dishonest, and if your account randomly switches between your personal card and your former business's card, then this would back this up.

It seems the critical point to me. On my Amazon account, it doesn't automatically switch from my default card: I have to actively authorise payment from other cards linked to the account. But other posters here have said that their accounts switch randomly.

You're not going to go to prison for this! However, if there's evidence that you would have seen or had to activate where the money came from, then it does make things more serious. Even if it's just a message popping up that the account is switching to anything other than the default card, it shows that you're seeing where the money is being taken from. 15 transactions is quite a lot to just not notice. But rest assured you're not going to be carted off to prison!

It's a bit weird that it was only some purchases, as our Amazon account has several cards on it and it always reverts back to the default card unless I change it?

Yes my Amazon account only takes from the default card, even though I have three cards attached.

Don’t panic, it was a genuine error, unlike my situation where my in-laws defrauded me and my husband of over a grand because my mother in law was being a smartarse . 🙄🙄🙄. In my situation the bank did jack shit, so you may need to pay out of pocket. Expensive mistake, but these things happen.

IME Amazon can just go to other cards in some circumstances.
A couple of years ago, I was going through divorce, and had to get statements for a joint account that neither of us had used for a couple of years. Looked at the statements, and my Amazon Prime had been getting paid from it for nearly a year!
I realised that at some point the card I had originally had when I set up Prime had expired, so Amazon had just used another card I had set up on there (joint account one). Obviously when I came to make a purchase, I updated my usual card as I knew I had a new card, but as it had started using the joint account for Prime, it just continued.

Is it possible your usual card had expired, so it went to the business one?

Either way, in your shoes I’d just tell the company it was an honest mistake and offer to pay the money back to them.

@Thriwit that's why the key issue here is establishing that something similar happened with the OP's account.

If Amazon randomly switched between her personal card and ex-business card without her needing to authorise, or without a message informing her, I would have thought this is a supporting factor.

As has been seen on here, some posters say this has happened; others say they've had to authorise anything other than their default card.

I have several cards linked to my Amazon account, and if it's anything other than my default, I have to authorise. Also, the last few numbers of the card always show up to indicate which account is being debited so even if I didn't have to authorise, there's visual evidence.

The best thing the OP can do is get this checked out, because if Amazon randomly switched between accounts with no way of her knowing then obviously that supports her case

this has definitely happened to me OP, not a business card thankfully, but mine and DH cards. I have no idea why it randomly charged some things to his card, but it definitely did. Someone mentioned app and website, maybe that’s why?

We genuinely thought it was some kind of fraud on his account, until we worked out it was purchases I was making!

I had this happen with DD’s card - she wanted to buy something so I added her card to my account and she used it, fine - made sure it wasn’t the default card - next thing the Prime fee came off it! No matter how many times I changed it to not be default, the odd random item would come off that card. I ended up deleting it. It definitely does happen.

Did it not show some of the digits of the account it was debiting?

Yes it shows the last 4 numbers of the card on the swipe to buy screen, I can only blame myself for this as I should of checked the number each time but I’m not even sure I know my card number or would recognise it as most of my payments these days are made via Apple Pay or iPhone remembering the card details for me kind of situation, it’s not often you have to put in full card details these days!
in hindsight I should of checked each time admittedly I feel so stupid now but at the time I didn’t even realise the card was linked to my account :(

What do you mean your account is disabled? Amazon has suspended it?
Honestly I don't know why noone front the company thought oh maybe it's op and contacted you.

Yes sorry Amazon have disabled my account pending investigation so I’m currently unable to get on to the account to se ether invoices orders or even try to work out how this has happened, I don’t know how this wasn’t picked up sooner by them on a accounting basis as I i mentioned previously some of the transactions date back to April 2022 but then again I didn’t pick up on it either so I’m partly to blame I do get that

I do think it was naughty of the company not to contact you directly first. They basically required you to use your own account for company transactions and then when that went unsurprisingly wrong they’ve now taken action that blocks your account completely.

I’m not saying it’s not your responsibility to ensure you don’t use their card by accident but that’s exactly the kind of thing that happens when accounts are shared.

Honestly @Trying2611 if you are being honest here and not fishing for potential retrospective explanations, I think that the company could have contacted you and approached from a genuine error point of view much earlier. I would now be expecting to refund them and be done with it and wouldn't entertain any suggestion of fraud. Frustrating it's a weekend. I'd be contacting Amazon to say you've realised there was a third party card left on your account and the only cards should be <list> and that you have contacted the third party directly to arrange repayment.

Why didn’t you remove the card from your Amazon account when you left the company????

You are absolutely not going to prison. In the grand scheme of things, this would be a very minor offence even if it had been deliberate! Absolute worst case scenario, community service

I don’t remember saving the card details in the first place to be honest so removing them didn’t even cross my mind lesson truly learnt on this one

Also, I once made a large electrical item purchase for my MIL who doesn't do anything online, using her credit card, and the next time I made a purchase from Amazon it took it from her card not mine. It must default to the last one used. Luckily it was quite a big purchase and so I immediately noticed it hadn't come out of my account and took a proper look, so I was able to pay her back straight away and delete her card details. But if had been lots of my normal small purchases I probably wouldn't have noticed for ages. So don't be too hard on yourself.

Did you not have to verify the card on Amazon in all that time? Do you have their card details in your possession?

It must default to the last one used

I have thought that happened to me and I have also thought I have the ticked the default box without meaning to when I’m doing things fast.

It’s easily done.

I accidentally ordered all my Christmas table boxes and table decs on my company’s credit card. It was only when they were delivered to work that I noticed.

You won’t go to prison, OP.

The reason it looks more suspicious is because they are small transactions. It's easier to hide small thefts. Like taking a fiver out of the till rather than a £50 note. Bigger purchases draw more attention. It's why it has taken so long for it to be spotted. You should never have saved those card details to your account and you should definitely have deleted them when you left. You're just lucky it's only £250. It's theft and fraud but I doubt it's a big enough amount for anything drastic to happen.

The thing is, it's all very well saying you didn't intend to buy things using the business account (and I believe you btw) but it's very hard to disprove intent. It's basically your word against some one else's.

That's why I think it's ultra important you get your Amazon account checked to see whether the card really did just switch randomly, sometimes debiting your personal account and sometimes the business one. Obviously now your account is blocked, this isn't something you can do, but surely part of the investigation should cover this?
There's still the issue of the digits from the business account being displayed, but I agree that might easily be overlooked if you're in a hurry.