Flaws in Amazon's one-time password system lead to customers being left empty-handed
Order something expensive on Amazon and the company may insist you give a password to its couriers to receive the package. But there’s one major problem: there’s no guarantee the package you’re handed contains the expensive item in question.
The one-time password system “adds an extra layer of security to your packages”, according to Amazon’s website. However, Amazon customers are finding that even after giving the six-digit code to the courier, they’re not getting the expensive item they ordered. Worse still, Amazon may refuse to investigate the missing item, because the OTP is considered proof it was delivered.When an order for an expensive item is placed, Amazon sends a text message to the customer with a six-digit code.
This is what happened to Alex Bloor, a manager for a broadband company in England, who ordered an Apple Watch last week. The Watch was just one of three packages Bloor was expecting that day, and when the courier arrived at his home, Bloor provided the requested code. Only after the courier left did Bloor realize that the delivery contained only two of the three items he was expecting – the Apple Watch was missing.When Bloor raised the missing Watch with Amazon, the company’s customer support team were dismissive of his complaint.
After Bloor explained the situation, the customer support assistant asked: “How did the courier get the OTP to mark the item delivered?”