Amazon emailed some customers on Wednesday morning to inform them that their names and email addresses were “inadvertently disclosed” publicly on its website due to a “technical error.”
Several people shared images of the email they received from Amazon on social media Wednesday morning. One user questioned the company’s decision not to provide more information, adding that they are now “likely to be victims of phishing scams.” It’s unclear how many people were affected and where, but Twitter users in the U.S. and Europe shared their emails on Twitter.
Another @AmazonUK@amazon#dataleak#Amazon
Dismissive email saying we need do nothing ignores the fact that with both our email and names leaked we are likely to be victims of phishing scams and end up on spam lists. Not nearly good enough Amazon. pic.twitter.com/HPVhxFh2uc— Anthony Cooke (@AntSaysThis) November 21, 2018
Amazon's legit been sending out notices saying sorry we exposed your email address. Seems likely related to this https://t.co/21cRB2dHTk… Besides the brevity, what's giving people pause is they sign the email https://t.co/KDiteRFaeR Why cap the "a" and why no https://? Strange pic.twitter.com/mwty3GmCN1
— briankrebs (@briankrebs) November 21, 2018
The company told customers the issue had been fixed, but declined to provide further details about the issue.
The only way for customers to know if their information was leaked is if they received the above brief email from Amazon. Despite users’ information being made public, the company told customers there was no need to change their passwords or “take any other action.”
In a statement to Fortune, a spokesperson for the e-commerce website said, “We have fixed the issue and informed customers who may have been impacted.” The company added, “This was not a breach of our website or any of our systems. Our website inadvertently disclosed email addresses and names due to a technical error that has been fixed. We emailed customers out of an abundance of caution to let them know their name and email address was disclosed.”
