NEW ORLEANS, July 11, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Attorneys
Stuart H. Smith and Barry J. Cooper, Jr. of New Orleans allege they discovered more than
$9000 had been charged to Mr.
Cooper's credit cards last summer for the purchase of 50 "crates"
of virtual assault rifles to use in online video games.
Mr. Cooper stopped payment of the fraudulent charges and Amazon
responded by freezing his account—even though the attorneys claim
the scam was perpetrated by a wholly-owned Amazon subsidiary,
Twitch Interactive.
According to the suit the attorneys made numerous 'good faith'
efforts to resolve the dispute with Amazon but were compelled to
sue the Seattle-based tech
retailer for the data breach and for allegedly violating
Louisiana's Unfair Trade Practices
Act. The state act bars companies from seeking to collect fees from
fraudulent activity such as the hacking of Cooper's account. Both
attorneys are domiciled in Louisiana.
Both men are Amazon Prime account holders. Twitch Interactive is
Amazon's retailer of the virtual rifles. Amazon controls nearly
half of the online retail market in the US according to
reports.
The filed legal action (case number 2019-6567 in Orleans Parish
Civil District Court) on Cooper's behalf seeks damages from Amazon
for the alleged data breach and violation of federal and
Louisiana law, including the
federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as well as the Louisiana
Fair Debt Collection Act. The suit asks Amazon to halt its
collection activities and restore Cooper's account. A copy of the
letter was forwarded to Louisiana's Attorney General Jeff Landry.
SOURCE Attorneys Smith and Cooper