GeekWire is having a baby! Or so Amazon thought.
Today we joined the group of confused Amazon customers receiving receipts saying someone had bought an item off our baby registry. As a news publication, we can assure everyone that we are not expecting any little GeekWires anytime soon. But we were curious what was going on.
When we clicked through the “thank you” message (I know, dumb idea), we were taken to Amazon’s general baby registry page.
Amazon of course has plenty of data on people, thanks to their shopping habits as well as usage of entertainment devices like the Echo and Fire TV. Was it a bug? A scam? Or did Amazon know something we didn’t know?
One thing’s for sure: We weren’t the only ones confused by the message:
Uh….just got a notification from Amazon that someone sent us a gift from our baby registry? Does Amazon know something I do not?
— AC Shilton (@ACShilton) September 19, 2017
Me: *opens email* Amazon baby registry gift? But I'm not pregnant.
Amazon's new AI program: that's what you think.
? pic.twitter.com/AibnFYtNtz— Danielle Gunn (@DanielleRGunn) September 19, 2017
PSA: Do not open the Baby Registry email from Amazon. It is a trick from the Wizard Bezos and you will become pregnant with Alexas.
— Djankeste Mi'em (@mikeyil) September 19, 2017
Eventually, Amazon delivered the answer. It wasn’t a scam, and it wasn’t a marketing ploy.
“A technical glitch caused us to inadvertently send a gift alert email earlier today,” Amazon told us in an email sent by a spokesperson. “We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.”
The company said “we are notifying affected customers.” So if you received an errant baby registry notice, rest assured: An email, not a gift, is on its way.
Update, 8:30 p.m., Tuesday. Here’s the email we received, with the subject line, “Oops! We’re sorry, we made a mistake.”
