Warning email from Amazon

[Germania]

The strage thing: I got the mail from amazon.co.uk. It's legit. The service confirmed it. But I never bought anything from amazon uk! I don't own a single digital item over there. I only used my native account in germany for digital content. How can this be? It doesn't make any sense.

Yesterday, I also received this email from amazon.co.uk ..
.. which was sent to an email address that was used exclusively for amazon.de
and (unlike my non-german accounts) was never used via a VPN (never used outside of DE)
And I have never reached the 100 limit - and never canceled a rented title.

[october262]

Hi, new member here. So my case is quite strange and might give some inside into the current state of affairs.

I use SF for about a year. A few months ago I used it to backup my purchased movies and tv shows. I bought a lot of content over prime video and wanted a secure copy of all my content. I strongly believe in my right to do this. I bought it with my own hard earned money.

Back then I have used SF basically every day. Often reaching the 100 limit. Then I paused for a few months and just a few weeks ago I brought some new shows and downloaded them. Just 2 or three seasons, nothing spectacular. I'm not a prime member by the way.

A few days ago I got the warning message from amazon.

The strage thing: I got the mail from amazon.co.uk. It's legit. The service confirmed it. But I never bought anything from amazon uk! I don't own a single digital item over there. I only used my native account in germany for digital content. How can this be? It doesn't make any sense.

I only used the uk account for some Blu-Ray movies which were not available here in germany. Even that is quite some year ago. I actually completely forgot that I ever used the uk account. And now this...?

did you buy / rent any movies or TV shows from Amazon.uk ??

[Elgin]

Hi, new member here. So my case is quite strange and might give some inside into the current state of affairs.

I use SF for about a year. A few months ago I used it to backup my purchased movies and tv shows. I bought a lot of content over prime video and wanted a secure copy of all my content. I strongly believe in my right to do this. I bought it with my own hard earned money.

Back then I have used SF basically every day. Often reaching the 100 limit. Then I paused for a few months and just a few weeks ago I brought some new shows and downloaded them. Just 2 or three seasons, nothing spectacular. I'm not a prime member by the way.

A few days ago I got the warning message from amazon.

The strage thing: I got the mail from amazon.co.uk. It's legit. The service confirmed it. But I never bought anything from amazon uk! I don't own a single digital item over there. I only used my native account in germany for digital content. How can this be? It doesn't make any sense.

I only used the uk account for some Blu-Ray movies which were not available here in germany. Even that is quite some year ago. I actually completely forgot that I ever used the uk account. And now this...?

[Eureeka1989]

There is no guarantee that it can be fixed with an update!

You will never know.

[Xenos]

I've got a question for those who have received a letter from Amazon. Are you doing any of the following?

1. renting, downloading, refunding?
2. downloading an inordinately large amount?
3. have an ad-supported account?

You have me concerned but I haven't gotten a letter yet. I haven't "abused" my account (I don't mean that as an insult). I've rented and download a few movies, but have never refunded them. I don't normally download a lot, but have purchased and downloaded some TV shows with several seasons. Also, I don't have an ad-supported account (just speculating that maybe they see you have "watched" a lot of stuff but 0 ads).

Just wondering if there is some commonality amongst the people who have received letters.

[bricks]

This at first sounded like a good alternative to make throwaway accounts. I guess I am getting too old. I did it for Facebook and other platforms, etc.
I was lucky enough to get and have access to 3 other programs, many called so-called recorders (one with the initials CG and one MP and one VC).
I may take a risk and try downloading one thing a week to see if I get a warning using one of them. Most of them do give the options of mkv or mp4 as well as H264, H265 and srt.
To me, none of the 3 look like recording as I had access to PlayOn, which is a true recorder as well as RecordFab, and if you have a 2-hour movie, it takes 2 hours to get.
The other 3 programs can save the movies in as little as 10 minutes. This is why there were times I think those programs are misunderstood, as they all should take 2 hours for a 2-hour movie.
Now, maybe they intercept the stream and record it somehow at lightning speed, so it still could be risky. But once I receive a warning, assuming I do with one of them, then I will also be using other means.

I know I will miss the ability to select srt when I want them and miss selecting between H264, H265, and AV1. But for most popular movies, you can easily find the srt via srt websites.

And as a few others say, what about the other providers what's to stop them from picking up on what Amazon did, and all providers do it, although Netflix and Hulu, and others have less to lose than with Amazon and getting packages and other things Amazon has versus Netflix or other providers.

definitely fast forward recording.

[Stan001]

My US account i only pay for Prime Video. Not the full prime. And i switched to monthly so if they do nuke the account, i will only be out $9.

No matter what StreamFab does (like updating the way they get the license so it's undetectable), we are now extremely vulnerable.

I would seriously question anyone who puts the fate of their everyday account in the hands of StreamFab. Amazon can update the API again and make the process a true cat and mouse game, with legitimate accounts as collateral damage.

I, for one, will no longer download with my legit account. I will set up a throwaway account with prepaid credit card from the pharmacy. For the phone number, one from the Jabber/XMP network setup via conversations.im works well with Amazon shortcodes.

When (not if) Amazon updates the API again, they can kill the account all they want, and it won't affect my real account.

If it becomes too much of a hassle, i'll just keep my money and have a clear conscience pirating without the content creators getting one red cent from me.

This at first sounded like a good alternative to make throwaway accounts. I guess I am getting too old. I did it for Facebook and other platforms, etc.
I was lucky enough to get and have access to 3 other programs, many called so-called recorders (one with the initials CG and one MP and one VC).
I may take a risk and try downloading one thing a week to see if I get a warning using one of them. Most of them do give the options of mkv or mp4 as well as H264, H265 and srt.
To me, none of the 3 look like recording as I had access to PlayOn, which is a true recorder as well as RecordFab, and if you have a 2-hour movie, it takes 2 hours to get.
The other 3 programs can save the movies in as little as 10 minutes. This is why there were times I think those programs are misunderstood, as they all should take 2 hours for a 2-hour movie.
Now, maybe they intercept the stream and record it somehow at lightning speed, so it still could be risky. But once I receive a warning, assuming I do with one of them, then I will also be using other means.

I know I will miss the ability to select srt when I want them and miss selecting between H264, H265, and AV1. But for most popular movies, you can easily find the srt via srt websites.

And as a few others say, what about the other providers what's to stop them from picking up on what Amazon did, and all providers do it, although Netflix and Hulu, and others have less to lose than with Amazon and getting packages and other things Amazon has versus Netflix or other providers.

[jpp72]

I just received the dreaded email warning. US based with the no added cost (i.e. with ads) account. I will not download from Amazon for a while and see what develops. I see some people talk about having more than one account. Are they paying full price for each account (i.e. $139 in US?) And if Amazon is doing this, I wonder how long it will be until Netflix follows suit?

My US account i only pay for Prime Video. Not the full prime. And i switched to monthly so if they do nuke the account, i will only be out $9.



No matter what StreamFab does (like updating the way they get the license so it's undetectable), we are now extremely vulnerable.

I would seriously question anyone who puts the fate of their everyday account in the hands of StreamFab. Amazon can update the API again and make the process a true cat and mouse game, with legitimate accounts as collateral damage.

I, for one, will no longer download with my legit account. I will set up a throwaway account with prepaid credit card from the pharmacy. For the phone number, one from the Jabber/XMP network setup via conversations.im works well with Amazon shortcodes.

When (not if) Amazon updates the API again, they can kill the account all they want, and it won't affect my real account.

If it becomes too much of a hassle, i'll just keep my money and have a clear conscience pirating without the content creators getting one red cent from me.

[Sebastian001]

I know that there is no guarantee that this can be patched out however I don’t believe SF who is extremely tight lipped anyway would come and say we are working on this if they didn’t already have an idea of what’s going on. Obviously on the analyze something is being exposed that Amazon is checking for.

I wouldn't bet on that!

[slottedpig]

I know that there is no guarantee that this can be patched out however I don’t believe SF who is extremely tight lipped anyway would come and say we are working on this if they didn’t already have an idea of what’s going on. Obviously on the analyze something is being exposed that Amazon is checking for.

[maineiac13]

I just received the dreaded email warning. US based with the no added cost (i.e. with ads) account. I will not download from Amazon for a while and see what develops. I see some people talk about having more than one account. Are they paying full price for each account (i.e. $139 in US?) And if Amazon is doing this, I wonder how long it will be until Netflix follows suit?

[paradox]

My account got nuked about an hour ago, regional - Australia.

I assumed I never got the email as both went to spam (the only Amazon related ones to go to spam ironically, typical Gmail) The first was sent on the 9th.

I've admittedly been downloading a lot of stuff over last two weeks as they are removing a fair chunk of content end of the month and luckily it was just a "burner" account, but I'll try to get it reactivated and watch a bit of stuff properly before ending all the subs.

It looks like they just put the "payment ban" on the account. The name I gave them for the separate-bank prepaid card was M_____y M___e so I can;t verify that.

"Account on hold temporarily We noticed unusual payment activity on your account and need to verify ownership of the payment method used on your most recent order. (Why?)"




Email:

"Important Notice Regarding Your Amazon Account"

We have indefinitely suspended this account pursuant to Section 6.a. of the Prime Video Terms of Use because we have found you to be in violation of the said Terms.
-- Legal mumbo-jumbo terms clause blah blah blah (not linked in email mind you) --

If you had open orders on this account, those orders were canceled when we closed the account. Any digital content that you purchased with this account will no longer be available to you. No refund will be provided.






* Funny how they can just "take" purchases and not refund.. Today I just "bought" two seasons of a show so I bet they will still charge for those. Well at least I got the offline copy before it went dark :-D

Case-in-point why I still buy Blu Rays, DVD, and download using this marvellous tool

[paradox]

My account got nuked about half an hour ago, regional - Australia.

I assumed I never got the email as both went to spam (the only Amazon related ones to go to spam ironically, typical Gmail) The first was sent on the 9th.

I've admittedly been downloading a lot of stuff over last two weeks as they are removing a fair chunk of content end of the month and luckily it was just a "burner" account, but I'll try to get it reactivated and watch a bit of stuff properly before ending all the subs.

It looks like they just put the "payment ban" on the account. The name I gave them for the separate-bank prepaid card was M_____y M___e so I can;t verify that.

"Account on hold temporarily We noticed unusual payment activity on your account and need to verify ownership of the payment method used on your most recent order. (Why?)"




Email:

"Important Notice Regarding Your Amazon Account"

We have indefinitely suspended this account pursuant to Section 6.a. of the Prime Video Terms of Use because we have found you to be in violation of the said Terms.
-- Legal mumbo-jumbo terms clause blah blah blah (not linked in email mind you) --

If you had open orders on this account, those orders were canceled when we closed the account. Any digital content that you purchased with this account will no longer be available to you. No refund will be provided.






* Funny how they can just "take" purchases and not refund.. Today I just "bought" two seasons of a show so I bet they will still charge for those. Well at least I got the offline copy this afternoon before it went dark :-D

Case-in-point why I still buy Blu Rays, DVD, and download using this marvelous tool

[ML10]

Hello, I'm from Germany, and it's interesting that you can officially purchase all SF modules directly from Amazon (Amazon Media EU Sarl) via Amazon.de. The warning emails are therefore somewhat surprising. I haven't received any yet, and there hasn't been any news about them in the German SF forum. I only have the SF Amazon module, but I rarely use or need it, as I primarily digitize Blu-rays with the DVDFab Ripper program. I hope for everyone's sake that this problem will be resolved soon! Best regards from Germany

[ML10]

Hello, I'm from Germany, and it's interesting that you can officially purchase all SF modules directly from Amazon (Amazon Media EU Sarl) via Amazon.de. The warning emails are therefore somewhat surprising. I haven't received any yet, and there hasn't been any news about them in the German SF forum. I only have the SF Amazon module, but I rarely use or need it, as I primarily digitize Blu-rays with the DVDFab Ripper program. I hope for everyone's sake that this problem will be resolved soon! Best regards from Germany