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