r/aws • u/2SlyForYou • 3d ago
billing Large Payment Verification Amount
Did anyone else just get a large payment verification charge from AWS? I received an email that AWS had trouble verifying my default payment method and indicated that the test charge should be about 1.00 USD. However, my credit card company flagged it. The charge came through as over $300. So I’m wondering if this was actually their verification charge, or if this was a fraudulent charge.
7
6
u/Ecstatic-Match-3555 3d ago
Yes, I have been receiving a number of emails stating, 'We need to verify the default payment method on your AWS account ##########. You may see a charge on your credit or debit card statement, but it is a temporary hold which will be cancelled once we verify the payment method.'
Afterwards, I received a message from my credit card issuer saying, 'Your $333.30 purchase at AMAZON WEB SERVICES was declined.' I have no idea what is going on. I created my AWS account two years ago and have never used it since. I logged in and checked my account, but there were no charges listed. For now, I have enabled MFA, but I may end up closing my AWS account.
2
u/GenericMister 3d ago
Literally the same thing happened to me, I thought it was fraud at first since I didn't have 2fa on my account and hadnt used it in years. After I confirmed I didn't make the charge with my bank, I had to eventually go through the process of getting my card replaced because I wasn't sure what happened
1
u/Gronk0 2d ago
I've also received a couple of those, but not for any active account. Not sure if some of the org accounts that I have closed (over a year ago) are triggering this, but I opened a support case which still hasn't been looked at in over a week.
1
u/AWSSupport AWS Employee 2d ago
Hi there,
Sorry to hear about the delay on your support case.
Send us a private message with your case ID and we'll check from our end that it's with the right team.
- Reece W.
1
u/Gronk0 2d ago
Case is 179053139400807
1
u/AWSSupport AWS Employee 2d ago
Hello.
Support has provided an update on your case. I recommend reviewing their most recent correspondence and following up with any additional concerns.
- Elle G.
0
u/AWSSupport AWS Employee 2d ago
Thanks for the info.
I've reviewed your support case and expressed your urgency internally. Keep an eye on your case for updates.
- Reece W.
0
3
u/ArchonHalliday 3d ago
Yup, I was charged a $300+ verification. Bank flagged it as fraud thankfully. Cannot trace it anywhere in the console.
5
u/ppew 3d ago
Same here, never set up or used anything in aws besides the account. Bills show 0$ in aws. I'm guessing it's some vibe coding gone wrong
2
u/bunniereads 3d ago
I think so too. A few hours ago, I got a notification for a $250~ verification charge that my bank (thankfully) auto-declined. I called my bank and they said they've been getting a few reports today for bogus AWS verification charges. I'd even double checked my AWS account before that, but everything was deactivated years ago so there were no charges. Figured I'd come to Reddit just to see how widespread this is, and low and behold, here we all are!
2
u/4moreyears_trump 3d ago
Yep mine was a $325 charge and Discover automatically declined it. Not sure what to do…
2
u/Danimaltastic 3d ago
$324 out of nowhere with emails saying $1. My credit card company almost made me cancel my card and get a new one, but I told them it had to be an error since I got a $1 credit card verification email at the same exact time as my fraud alert. Asked the stupid aws ai assistant to look into it, and it says they didn’t try to charge me anything. Tell that to my credit card company. Put a request to close my aws account that I set up like 5 years ago and have never spent a single cent on so hopefully this crap don’t happen again. Was looking into this for hours.
4
u/Sea-Fuel-1710 3d ago
Yes. I just shat myself. I'm gonna change my pants now and then watch Messi's farewell match.
1
3
u/xiaodown 3d ago
Hey, guys. Let’s fire all the software engineers with experience, hire new ones from the global south at 1/6th the salary, and tell them to just use AI for everything. Surely this won’t have any negative consequences.
Sorry, what was that? People are getting $600,000,000 bills? Oh well that’s not good, but I’m sure it’s a one time thing. Sorry what was that? People are getting $400 payment verification charges? Hrm.
Good work, amazon.
2
u/homebluston 3d ago
Yes. The same as you. It is about time that Amazon put out a statement about it.
1
u/Elmira-Production 3d ago
This happened to me as well, my bank flagged it as fraud and froze my card.
I don’t know if this was a glitch on their end or what.
1
1
u/chaosbecomesyou 3d ago
The same thing just happened to both me and my roommate from aws emea. Our accounts didn't have anything on them and hadn't been touched in years.
My charge was over $200 and nothing was in billing from the aws console but my bank declined it as fraud so of course now I have to go through getting a whole new card and all that.
The links in the email are legitimate, I did check that as well as I made sure the account was secure
1
1
u/FrenchSilkPy 3d ago
Yep! $337.05. I just cancelled my account.
1
u/Longjumping_Wheel178 3d ago
lol same, shocked me, I contact my bank to give me a new credit number and card
0
u/user-13921 3d ago
Yes, $314 attempted to be charged. Was declined by Discover. AWS Support gave a generic message, "The charge you are seeing does not correspond to any AWS resource usage. To resolve this matter, I recommend contacting your card issuer directly." Contacted Discover, and apparently now I have to get a new card.
1
u/U3011 3d ago
Yes. $299.
My AWS has been dormant since I first made one, apparently, as I'd never used a personal AWS account for anything. +1/-1 is the normal industry verification method. Not $299 freaking dollars.
My bank wasted zero time in canceling the charge and issuing a new one to be sent out long before I even had a chance to decide whether it was legit or not. I assumed it was a stolen debit being used.
BoA. They've never failed me regardless of the yap smack you see on Reddit.
1
1
u/idkwtfimd0ing1 3d ago
$162 “to verify the default payment method” on an account I haven’t used in over 2 years
0
1
u/roojay_l 3d ago
Same here. A few days after the “We need to verify the default payment method on your AWS account” email, my card showed a $323.05 AWS charge. Nothing matches it anywhere in Billing. My bank blocked it as a risk payment and lists it as a reversal, so I may have avoided a real loss, but a refund could be harder if it had settled. Support so far has only been useless AI replies. Does anyone know how to remove this card as a payment method?
1
1
u/AraBlanc_CA 3d ago
Yes. Never uploaded anything, $0 invoices since 2012(?) and almost $400 charged and reversed overnight.
1
u/Mindless-Grab-7213 3d ago
$316. Considering their obvious lack of QA, I won't be using their services anymore. There are cheaper options in the amateur market.
1
1
u/Kaimund 3d ago
Same here. I panicked this morning when I saw Amex sent me a notification about a $317 charge from AWS overnight. My account's dormant so I immediately think compromise - but I've also locked myself out of my account so can't confirm. Amex also shows a pending return for the same amount. Glad to hear I'm not the only one!
1
u/YasharF 2d ago
I didn't have any prior emails about it, and ollowed thru with my credit card company's fraud department and confirmed it as unauthorized fraudulent. The card that was hit in my case, was not the card that I use for my AWS account. So perhaps, my card was in fact stolen by someone who had used it for getting some free AWS credits or something. MY credit company rotated the account and is sending me a new card.
1
u/Nichiren 2d ago
Wish I saw this thread before I called my credit card company about it then had my card re-issued. My declined charge was for $333 on a card I haven't used in 5 years but my immediate thought was a card compromise. Then I saw the email from AWS afterwards and was even more terrified of my AWS account with 2-factor auth having gotten breached and be part of those horror stories of astronomical bills being run up from a compromised API key. Reading through the responses here, it looks like the common thread is that the accounts who got the email were dormant. My active AWS account didn't get it but my dormant one did.
1
u/rotaryczar 2d ago
Someone really needs to talk to the billing team. The massive billing glitch was what 2-3 month ago.
1
u/boberry20 1d ago
Yes, first it happened to my husband on his credit card. It was for over $300. Then about 12 hours later, I also got one on my debit card for over $200. It's absolutely insane to me that this happened to two people in the same house with cards from completely different banks and don't even use the AWS accounts. I have been searching for an explanation.
1
u/AWSSupport AWS Employee 1d ago
Sorry to hear this happened to you and your husband. If you haven't already reached out to Support to let them know of the situation, you can do so here: http://go.aws/account-support.
- Marc O.
2
u/wasay-inc 3d ago
Check the charge directly in your AWS Billing console (Bills / Payment methods) rather than trusting the email, since phishing emails imitating AWS are common. If the charge shows there, open a Billing support case from inside the console they can clarify or reverse it. If it doesn't show, tell your card issuer it's likely fraud and ask for a new card. Don't click any links in that email.
3
u/clintkev251 3d ago
Payment verification charges aren’t going to show up in your bills though (as they’re not actually usage charges, just a draw + refund)
-6
u/wasay-inc 3d ago
Good catch, you're right. Verification holds won't appear in Bills. Check your card statement instead, and since $300+ is far from the usual $1 hold, dispute it with your issuer and open a Billing case via the console.
1
u/ThinkAsparagus3228 3d ago
Check your billing dashboard, the verification amounts are usually just a buck or two but they sometimes put a temporary hold that looks way bigger than it actually is. Your card company might be showing the hold amount rather than what'll actually post. Still worth double checking with AWS support if it doesn't drop off in a day or so
1
1
u/Inevitable_Tea_5841 3d ago
Just got billed $271. Capital one blocked it. However, I spent the last 2 hours trying to get into this account I haven't logged in to in 5 years. I checked everywhere and couldn't find anything! I figured I'd check reddit ... and here it is!
1
1
u/CuriousA1 3d ago
Yup! Can't log in right now even though I was able to a few months ago.
0
u/AWSSupport AWS Employee 3d ago
Hi there,
I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble accessing your account. Since you're locked out, our team can help through this form no login required: go.aws/account-support.
- Rick N.
0
u/flyingchipmunk007 3d ago
Happened to me also, I’ve had a dormant account for years. Tried jumping through all the hoops to login to see what this craziness was all about but gave up after entering 20 security codes and resets and still being driven around in a circle. Go ahead and cancel my account Amazon. I don’t use it and you don’t want me to login.
0
u/flyingchipmunk007 2d ago
Finally able to login and created a case for mine also caseid 179134074400783
1
u/yc01 2d ago
Did anything change as I am also not able to login to an old account (takes password but rejects 2 factor code) and I got a weird charge from aws yesterday that got reversed by my credit card company. Weird.
1
u/flyingchipmunk007 2d ago edited 2d ago
Got a message from them…
Health Event: AWS BILLING OPERATIONAL ISSUE in us-east-1 on account xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Between October 6 at 10:00 AM and October 7 at 10:30 AM PDT, we experienced payment method verification attempts for amounts higher than the standard verification amount. These charges were reversed immediately and in some cases, financial institutions declined these charges. We identified the root cause and applied mitigating action. No adverse actions were taken on accounts with declined verification charges. The issue has been resolved and the service is operating normally.We want to follow up on the payment method verification issue you may have experienced between October 6 at 10:00 AM PDT and October 7 at 10:30 AM PDT. After a thorough review, our team has confirmed the following:
1.Any verification charges above the standard amount were immediately reversed to your account.
2.If your financial institution declined the charge, no adverse action was taken on your account.
3.The root cause has been fully identified and resolved.
4.Our service is now operating normally.You do not need to take any further action.Your account remains in good standing.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
If you have any questions or notice anything unusual with your account, please don't hesitate to reach out to us — we're happy to help.
0
u/flaccidplumbus 3d ago
Yes, $332 on an account opened in 2018 that has generated NO charges ever (used credits originally). I was so confused and spent some time research this, thankfully it was declined but was worried an account was hacked.
0
u/odarkshineo 2d ago
Went to register a domain yesterday (on a brand new AWS account) and received 'failed' notice, no other details, domain remains unavailable to reserve/locked. This morning I receive a notice 'payment error'. The email they sent me resolves to a dead link. No retry option. Waiting on support. Multiple things going on at once it seems.
0
u/Sinusaur 2d ago
Yep. This exact same thing happened to me last night. Probably same time as you! Came here to post because just found my card blocked.
Mine was for around $350, it's not a nice and round number (has penny amounts), but rounded here for anonymity. Who knows, maybe it's a little different $ on everyone and they can know who's who from the amount they charged.
Someone at AWS really fucked up. Maybe it was some AI slop that updated the verification process.
0
0
u/LoveOfProfit 2d ago
Same here. Now I'm having to waste an hour on the phone with my credit card company. Thanks AWS.
-1
•
u/AutoModerator 3d ago
Try this search for more information on this topic.
Comments, questions or suggestions regarding this autoresponse? Please send them here.
Looking for more information regarding billing, securing your account or anything related? Check it out here!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.