Amazon fires employee for sharing customer email addresses

The worker gave the information to a third party seller.

October 8, 2018, 2:34 PM

Amazon fired an employee for handing over customer email addresses to a third party seller on the site, the company confirmed on Monday.

The e-commerce giant said on Friday it had notified affected customers, adding that the seller had been blocked from Amazon.

"The individual responsible for this incident has been terminated from their position, and we are supporting law enforcement in their prosecution," an Amazon spokesperson wrote in an email to ABC News.

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PHOTO: Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., speaks during a discussion at the Air Force Association's Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., Sept. 19, 2018.
Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., speaks during a discussion at the Air Force Association's Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., Sept. 19, 2018.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The company did not provide any details on the fired employee or third party seller.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Amazon was investigating leaks of customer data by employees in exchange for bribes from third party sellers. Amazon would not comment on whether this employee's behavior was part of that investigation.

Problems with third party sellers and a culture of fake reviews have been a growing problem for Amazon as it grows exponentially. The cottage industry of fake reviews has in turn spawned an industry that monitors fake reviews.

PHOTO: A general view of the inbound area of the Amazon.com MPX5 fulfillment center on November 17, 2017 in Castel San Giovanni, Italy.
A general view of the inbound area of the Amazon.com MPX5 fulfillment center on November 17, 2017 in Castel San Giovanni, Italy.
Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images

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