A money launderer, aged 81?

D.D. writes: Now in the twilight of my life, I thought I would sell my collection of books, so a couple of years ago I opened an account with Amazon. Recently though, I was told my seller’s account had been suspended. Amazon promised to look into this, but no explanation has ever been given, and my account still holds £52. STAFF at Amazon told me they needed further proof of your identity, though it is not clear why. When you signed up as a seller, you gave full details of your bank account and cards.

The latest request was for your passport, which seems a bit over the top, just so you could sell a few books. With all the warnings there are about internet scams and cloning, you decided you would keep your passport to yourself. It was out of date anyway, and you had not renewed it.

When I told Amazon this, the request changed to a demand for your current driving licence with photo or provisional licence.

Amazon did seem really keen to have a picture of you, but it failed completely to tell me why it had accepted you in the first place if it thought you were using a false identity so you could sell second-hand books and become an 81-year-old international money launderer. The only explanation I was offered was that ‘Amazon Payments is required by law to collect certain business and personal information from sellers and take appropriate steps to confirm their identities’. Because you refused to provide an official photograph, or simply did not have one, Amazon was suspending you indefinitely.

But the good news is that it has coughed up the cash at last. I hope you now find a simpler way to sell your books.

If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to

Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6DB or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.