In late 2025, Amazon agreed to pay $1.5 billion to its subscribers in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC sued Amazon in June 2023 for tricking people into subscribing to Amazon Prime, then making it almost impossible for those subscribers to cancel. When announcing the lawsuit, the FTC reported, “Specifically, Amazon used manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions.
“Amazon also knowingly complicated the cancellation process for Prime subscribers who sought to end their membership. The primary purpose of its Prime cancellation process was not to enable subscribers to cancel, but to stop them. Amazon leadership slowed or rejected changes that would’ve made it easier for users to cancel Prime because those changes adversely affected Amazon’s bottom line.”
The settlement awarded maximum payments of $51 to eligible subscribers. By my math, this means at least 29 million people are eligible for refunds. The first round of checks went out around the New Year’s holiday. Others received email or postcards with instructions on how to make a claim.
The FTC now reports receiving many questions about this refund process. They report the FTC is not managing this refund process. Instead, Amazon is handling all of it internally. Anyone with questions about the process needs to contact Amazon. How do you do that? Do not go online searching for an Amazon phone number. You are just as likely to find an imposter phone number as you are to find an Amazon number.
Instead, email Amazon directly on this issue at admin@SubscriptionMembershipSettlement.com. You can also browse Amazon’s website set up for the public to view information on this matter at www.subscriptionmembershipsettlement.com. If you ever subscribed, either knowingly or otherwise, to Amazon Prime, it’s probably worth your while to look at this website.
With this many people involved, and this amount of money available, it’s a guarantee crooks will get involved.
Scammers often use the names of well-known companies and big FTC settlements to contact people to “help” with your account or refund. How do you know it’s a scam?
Because the FTC will never contact you about this refund. And no one from the FTC or Amazon will ask you for money to get a refund. And only scammers say they can get you special access or a guaranteed refund.
• Let me know about scams, fraud, or other crookedness you run across. Most of what I learn, I learn from you. Contact me at Seniors vs. Crime, Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, 563-242-9211, extension 4433, or email me at randymeier@gapa911.us.