Hackers broke into Amazon accounts and channelled cash into own bank accounts: Report

Amazon was hit by a "serious" online attack in 2018, with a court filing revealing that hackers transferred funds from seller accounts for more than six months, according to a Bloomberg report.

A UK legal document indicates that hackers broke into 100 seller accounts and channelled cash from loans and sales into their own bank accounts, the report said.

The hackers managed to modify the account details on the Seller Central platform to their own accounts at Barclays and Prepay Technologies, according to a court filing.

The e-commerce giant is still investigating the affected accounts. The company has also requested a London judge for the permission to examine accounts at Barclays and Prepay.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story.

Amazon, Barclays, and Prepay have not yet responded to Bloomberg’s request for comment.

The amount of money stolen by the hackers has not been disclosed. The filing does not mention how the hackers managed to additional bank details to the merchants’ accounts, the report said.

The fraudulent transactions occurred between May and October 2018, and the first transaction occurred on May 16, the filing said.

One of the entities mentioned in the filing is Amazon Capital Services UK, which loans money to sellers for a period of one year, the report said.

Amazon recently said it had issued over $1 billion in loans to merchants.

In 2018, Amazon India saw a 56 percent growth in merchants selling to international markets.