Amazon suddenly asking for account verification with every sign in attempt

[moonbearAskWoody Lounger]

Starting yesterday, after correctly entering my email and password I’m shown a screen (still directly on Amazon) with a button which will send a verification code to my email to verify my account.

There are 2 things that make this strange.

The first strange thing about this is that this account is close to 10 years old and I’ve never seen anything like this before. Not even a few years ago when Amazon was hacked and made everyone change their passwords.

Secondly is that I’ve never had 2FA enabled or any other device except this computer attached to this Amazon account. I don’t even own a cell phone.

This also doesn’t appear to be directly affecting anything with how the account is actually working and none of the settings have changed.

This also doesn’t seem to be like what people report with randomly receiving phishing texts or emails purported to be from Amazon.

If I don’t click the button after entering my password, the code never gets sent and if I click the Amazon logo at the top of the page it takes me back to the homepage like I never entered my email and password.

What little info I managed to find that sounded anywhere close to this was talking about people receiving forgotten password reset texts when someone was trying to hack their accounts.

That is not whats happening here, there are no links in the verification emails at all. Just the verification code and the standard wall of text about Amazon caring about your privacy and security.

I have also cleared my cache and cookies twice with no effect.

Has anyone else seen anything like this before?

[willygirlAskWoody Plus]

I’ve had this coming through intermittently, not concerned about it. I think Amazon is adding an extra layer of security randomly, especially when there hasn’t been log on action in awhile. Basically, the only concern I have when the added security feature is absent, is with myself as a reminder how frequently I shop at any point in time. IMHO there shouldn’t be any worries.

Win7 SP1 Home 64-bit, GrpA

1 user thanked author for this post.

moonbear

[moonbearAskWoody Lounger]

Ok, I should have said this in my original post, but I actually like the idea that its there I just wish they wouldn’t do things like this at random.

In the long run I sincerely hope Amazon announces things like this if they decide to add it to more accounts.

[OscarCPAskWoody Plus]

I have not seen this so far. I use Chrome to access my Prime account, and my default browser, Waterfox, to track deliveries using the links in the emails from Amazon telling me that my order has shipped and that, by clicking on them, I can go to an Amazon page where I can track them. On both cases, everything is still as it has been for quite a while already. Perhaps this is being deployed gradually and not everybody has been included yet in the new system?

Windows 7 Professional, SP1, x64 Group B & macOS + Linux (Mint) => Win7 Group W + Mac&Lx

[moonbearAskWoody Lounger]

A gradual release would explain why there isn’t really any chatter about this anywhere.

[gpmartens1AskWoody Plus]

Amazon has been using these random extra requests for logins for sometime.  It hasn’t bothered or even concerned me, if they want me to login again, I just do it.  That’s even with 2 factor authentication.

1 user thanked author for this post.

willygirl

[willygirlAskWoody Plus]

I always logout after each session and start fresh with the next shopping/browsing excursion. These random security sign in requests are part of the Amazon site protection features. I actually appreciate the extra step.

Win7 SP1 Home 64-bit, GrpA

[ScotchJohnAskWoody Plus]

Moonbear – you say you don’t welcome the security prompts being “random”.

I actually welcome “random”, less predictable by people trying to break in.

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

[Alex5723AskWoody Plus]

moonbear wrote:

Starting yesterday, after correctly entering my email and password I’m shown a screen (still directly on Amazon) with a button which will send a verification code to my email to verify my account.

I got the verification code sent to my iPhone.
I never keep always connected and sign out at the end of the session.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 3 days ago by  Alex5723.

[moonbearAskWoody Lounger]

I would like to thank everyone for the quick and informative responses, you’ve saved me a lot of stress. I’ll be marking this as resolved.

1 user thanked author for this post.

willygirl

[Author]

Posts