Ordering from Amazon anonymously

General
1

So I am trying to order a package to a local amazon locker anonymously. My idea was to create an account and order with a prepaid visa card. I made the account and tried to order with the card and it seemed to go through. Soon after I received an email and my account got put on hold for suspicious activity and that I have 72 hours to submit proof of ownership/identity. I responded with a photo of the prepaid card and receipt and they responded with another email demanding KYC government ID or recent utility bill to verify my identity.

So I am guessing this account is dead. I saw one user saying that they did exactly this and put 2fa on mobile app before purchasing and also used a prepaid visa and it works for them. This post was years old so I am wondering if it still works before bothering to create another account.

Does anyone have experience with doing something similar like this?

1 Like
2

Yes. I (of course) learned this from another person.

Build an account using an alias email.

Use an SMS service, such as TextVerified

Use an Amazon gift card.

Choose a local Amazon locker for delivery.

2 Likes
3

I haven’t tested it myself but I heard it’s best to build up account reputation by first aging the account a bit, then buy a cheap digital item like a song, and then age the account further before buying a physical item. Even then some people get banned after several successful purchases if they never end up adding a card attached to someones identity. Privacy.com is probably less suspicious than a prepaid card or gift card but it has the caveats of not being totally anonymous and only available in the USA.

4

I remember Micheal Bazzell discussing this on his podcast. He recommended that you wait 2 weeks after account creating before using it. After two weeks you are account is less likely to get flagged for suspicious activity.

Moreover, I recommend to buy Amazon gift cards with cash. You can find them in most stores like 7/11.

1 Like
5

Do you have a link to that podcast?

6

Is this confirmed to work?

7

The podcast is no longer available online but I think it was episode 208.

But this is the episode as file from my personal archive. You can the find archived version of the whole podcast as torrent.

4 Likes
8

I read online that when using an Amazon gift card you are required to link a debit/credit card to the account before you are allowed to use that balance. So when I link the prepaid card, wouldn’t it just do the same thing and flag the account?

9

I used Mullvad VPN, a clean browser session, an email alias, and an SMSPool number for creating a burner Amazon account. Once I was successfully registered I purchased a Amazon Gift Card from Bitrefill.

There’s also providers such as Coincards that take XMR for Giftcards if you want more privacy.

10

Privacy.com, I imagine doesn’t compromise your anonymity from Amazon, but I don’t know the exact mechanisms because privacy.com is fully KYC compliant part of the banking system.

An alternative you could use to get a virtual card or real card (depending on the vendor you choose) connected to your account anonymously is to use someone on xmrbazaar.com for example, (0 FEE) Proxy Buy & Reship -> SPEND CRYPTO LIKE FIAT with my card or cash | XmrBazaar (no endorsement, only use sellers offering multisig escrow or bond insurance).

Could someone give info into the process once you have successfully ordered and are picking up at a locker?

I wonder what Amazon’s thought process and purpose of creating those lockers was. Good for us haha.

11

Will it also work with buying cheap kindle books?

12

I’d assume any digital product should work, at least as of the last time I heard this strategy was successful.

13

Never used but this is interesting: https://xmrbazaar.com/listing/L3YB/

14

Similarly, proxysto.re (which BTW now is proxystore.de) also offers a proxy shopping service, for now only for German residents.

There are limitations on products and types of sale, as well as only listings in German or English, but any vendor in the EU is supported, who meets their full criteria.

Also, the service costs 10€ plus 5% of product value (plus additional forward shipping cost, if not collected in Leipzig).
Seems steep, but since you would need to pay a person for their time and effort (and storage, if applicable), I feel its reasonable.

15

Using fake emails, gift cards, and lockers is just basic privacy stuff. But remember one thing: your first account is already flagged. Amazon checks your device, IP address, and delivery lockers, not just your credit card. So, your new account will probably get flagged too.

Also, let’s be honest. Even if it work, this only hides your shopping from your neighbors or banks. It doesn’t hide anything from Amazon, because they still have your order history anyway.

16

Interesting. Given what you say, I think that only your device fingerprint could link and identify you to your regular Amazon account?

Note: I would add “fake phone number” to the list: “fake emails, gift cards, and lockers … and fake phone number for SMS text”

I would think that using a VPN would provide a different IP address and using an Amazon locker that your regular account has never used should negate those identifiers.

This should leave the only identifying component to be your device fingerprint, correct?

17

An issue was raised about Amazon being able to fingerprint your device/connection. I possible have a solution to that (not sure because I can’t test it from Amazon’s perspective).

-potential fingerprinting solution:

Use a VM of a different Operating system than you normally use (such as Fedora or Ubuntu). Use a second VPN from inside the VM .
I tried this and it appears to me that the “visible” fingerprint is of the VM and the second VPN (not your host VPN).

So, the setup for a private Amazon account would be:

Use a VM with a different O/S and a different VPN provider.

Build an account using an alias email.

Use an SMS service, such as TextVerified

Use an Amazon gift card.

Choose a local Amazon locker for delivery.