I haven’t ordered anything from Amazon in 3 years, but suddenly I received 2 packages I never ordered. Now Riverty is forcing me to pay a bill with penalties (45 CHF to 54 CHF to 170 CHF). You should never have to pay Riverty or Arvato for items you did not order.
Amazon, Riverty, and Arvato are all victims of hackers. It may take time for them to detect the fraud. Each of them can notice inconsistencies (mismatched email, birthday, or name) and alert the others. The best thing you can do is Contact Amazon ASAP and explain the situation.
It seems the hackers’ goal is not to send free gifts to strangers, but rather to make Amazon lose money and time, while upsetting customers. I lost many hours in that case too (4 hours and it is not over)
All players—Amazon, Riverty, and Arvato—can detect and stop this type of fraud. But until they do, you may still receive unwanted letters. as of today, i still need to wait and hope for the best outcome!
TL;DR In an ideal world
- Amazon may detect the fraud and stop it, but…
- Riverty can still send a debt letter. They may eventually detect the fraud and cancel everything, but not immediately.
- Calling Riverty (+41 44 797 6740) may redirect you to their recovery service in Switzerland, Arvato.
- Arvato may not find you in their system, but you could still receive a letter a few days later—or even 3–4 weeks later—after Amazon requests to stop everything.
- Arvato will finally detect the hack after verifying your email and birthdate that does not match yours. Arvato told me that they have a bit more than 5+ customers in Switzerland per week at least having the same issue.
Amazon basic pens unwanted and never ordered packages
Amazon said it is solved but…
tips
Going to the police only makes sense if you suffer a real financial loss. Otherwise, you’ll just waste your time—and the police’s time too, since they usually prioritize more urgent cases.
Use 2FA and even better only passkeys (WebAuthn / FIDO2), it was designed to prevent man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks that plague traditional password and SMS/OTP authentication.
warning
Don’t forget to verify that Amazon’s Riverty bills is legit, dont trust the QRCode but call them and verifiy their bank data online.
June 2025
I received a box of Amazon Basics pens that I never ordered. I reported it to Amazon support the same day. They told me via chat to destroy, give away, or throw them away. I should have kept a screenshot of that chat session!
I received a German-language book I never ordered a few days later. I reported it the same day, but got no reply. I even threatened to delete all my Amazon accounts.
July 2025
I deleted all my Amazon accounts. Not a big loss, I hadn’t used them for the last 3 years anyway.
August 2025
I received a Riverty bill for June 2025 of 35 CHF … seems that it is for the paperback book.
13th August 2025
New Riverty bill of 54 CHF …
19th August 2025
I am forced to recreate my Amazon accounts on 15th August just to be able to … contact their support again 🙃
I personally spent 1 hour on the phone with a French-speaking support agent (based in Africa) who refused to speak French because it was a German hotline. He escalated the case to a “specialist,” but the reply was just a template (see below).
Example Reply from Amazon Specialist
On August 19, 2025, at 8:17 PM, [email protected] wrote: Hello!
We have reviewed your Amazon.de account and found no unauthorized activity. Therefore, we have not made any changes to your account.
Things that are perceived as unauthorized activity often include the following: – An automatically renewed subscription – Activity by people you know who use your account or have access to your payment information – An accidental 1-Click purchase – A charge for a previously placed order that has just shipped – A charge for an order placed by a family member or friend using a shared voice-activated device
To protect your account, we recommend changing your Amazon account password, as well as the passwords for your email accounts and other websites.
For more information about shopping safely online, please visit the “Security and Privacy” section of our help pages. If you think we’ve missed something, please contact our customer service, who will be happy to assist you.
How can I tell if this email is really from Amazon? – Amazon emails are always sent from an address ending in “@amazon.de.”
Account Specialist Amazon.de https://www.amazon.de
None of these explanations applied to me.
- I don’t share my account.
- I use unique passwords for all services.
- No one I know has ever ordered items for me.
- Last time I was online in amazon is maybe September 2024
My Amazon accounts show no suspicious activity or orders. They’ve been secured with 2FA for years, and I switched to passkeys as soon as Amazon supported them.
20th August 2025
I call Arvato during 25min and they told me that my dossier is not yet in their system, and that it is better to wait, and if I get a letter from them, call their hotline again. If I receive new packages, do not open them—just keep them.
25th August 2025
I get a new bill from Arvato, 170 CHF to pay before 9th of Spetember. I also see now an Arvato dossier number.
26th August 2025
Amazon blocked my phone number!???, trying now to reach them through [email protected]
as support chat, phone DO NOT WORK ANYMORE. I suspect that my new account has not any reputation, like my 20 years old previous Amazon account.
27th August 2025
I call Arvato again and they ask for my birthdate that do not match in their system, nor the email adress. They will transmit my dossier number to the accounting and stop everything (hopefully) and transmit to amazon.
What’s Bad
Apparently, someone can create an Amazon account or steal an Amazon account (not my case), buy something for a random stranger, have it delivered to them, and then make that stranger pay later through Riverty’s monthly billing system!
Riverty’s own page makes this clear: 👉 https://support.riverty.com/amazon/ch_en/
It only requires name, date of birth, and billing address—all of which are commonly found in data leaks or sold by data brokers. That’s shockingly insecure.
Solutions
- Contact Amazon ASAP and explain the situation.
- Keep screenshots and copies of all chats and emails. Fraud cases can take time to resolve.
- If Riverty/Arvato contacts you, call them directly.
- Keep a log file of all communications: screenshots, PDF of all letters
Calling Riverty, which redirected me to Arvato, turned out to be the right move. My case was not existing in their system (yet) and may never appear.
More on that subject
https://www.biallo.de/verbraucherschutz/news/datenmissbrauch-bei-amazon-vermutet/
