# Capital One caller sued Amazon Web Services over Amazon Connect voiceprints and call recording Source: https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-incidents/capital-one-2023-amazon-voice-id-suit Last updated: Oct 21, 2026 Capital One (named in the complaint, not a defendant) · Governance finding · severity 1 of 5 A Capital One customer filed a proposed class action against Amazon on 31 March 2023 in the Western District of Washington. According to the complaint, Capital One uses Amazon Connect Voice ID, which "uses machine learning" to build a digital voiceprint of each caller to its customer-support lines, and Amazon recorded and examined Californians' voiceprints without consent, in breach of California's Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). The amended complaint dropped the voiceprint claim and alleged that Amazon Connect, a machine-learning contact-centre service, unlawfully recorded and analysed the calls. On 2 July 2024 Judge Tana Lin denied Amazon Web Services' motion to dismiss. The parties stipulated to dismiss the case without prejudice in December 2024. Capital One was never a defendant, and no court found that either company broke the law. ## Key facts | | | | --- | --- | | Date | Mar 31, 2023 | | Institution | Capital One (named in the complaint, not a defendant) | | Country | United States | | AI system | Amazon Connect (including Voice ID and Contact Lens) · Cloud contact-centre service that records and analyses calls; the complaints described Voice ID as using machine learning to build callers' voiceprints and Amazon Connect as "a machine-learning powered contact center service" · vendor: Amazon Web Services | | AI? | Machine-learning system (inferred from the record) — The sources describe a machine-learning model; nobody on the record labelled it AI. | | Category | Litigation (Governance finding) | | Status | Court filing | | Severity | 1 of 5 — Privacy allegations against the vendor only: a proposed class of California callers, no class certified and no finding. The claims survived a motion to dismiss in July 2024, but the case was dismissed without prejudice by stipulation in December 2024. No loss, data exposure or regulatory action was reported. | ## What happened? The original complaint (No. 2:23-cv-00491), filed on 31 March 2023 against Amazon.com Services LLC, said Capital One had integrated Amazon Connect Voice ID to fight banking fraud and used it to monitor the lines its customers call for support. It alleged that Voice ID "uses machine learning to analyze callers' unique voice characteristics including speech rhythm, pitch, and tone, and create a digital voiceprint for each caller", and authenticates callers passively while they speak. It claimed violations of CIPA §§631, 632 and 637.3 because no caller gave express consent, written or otherwise. [1][4] The second amended complaint, filed on 7 September 2023, narrowed the case to two wiretapping and eavesdropping counts, under CIPA §631(a) and §632. It described Amazon Connect as "a machine-learning powered contact center service" whose features record, transcribe and analyse calls, including sentiment scoring through its Contact Lens feature. The plaintiff alleged that Amazon itself collected the content of Capital One's customer calls and could use it to improve its own machine-learning services. [2][3] On 2 July 2024 Judge Tana Lin denied Amazon Web Services' motion to dismiss. The court accepted, at the pleading stage, the allegation that Amazon could use the recorded communications for its own purposes, so it was not merely an extension of Capital One. Bloomberg Law reported that the plaintiff had adequately pleaded that Amazon acted for its own purposes and not as a "mere tape recorder" for the bank. [3][5] Amazon answered the complaint in August 2024, and the court set a class-certification hearing for December 2025. On 20 December 2024 the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal without prejudice, and the case was terminated on 23 December 2024. No settlement terms appear on the public docket. [4] ## Timeline - Mar 31, 2023 — Proposed class action filed against Amazon in the Western District of Washington over Amazon Connect Voice ID on Capital One's support lines. [1][4] - Sep 7, 2023 — Second amended complaint narrows the claims to CIPA §§631(a) and 632 recording and eavesdropping. [2][4] - Jul 2, 2024 — Court denies Amazon Web Services' motion to dismiss the second amended complaint. [3][5] - Dec 20, 2024 — Parties file a stipulation of dismissal without prejudice; the case is terminated on 23 December 2024. [4] ## What was the impact? - Customers: A proposed class of California callers to Capital One's customer-support lines; no class was certified. - Other: No money was reported lost and no data breach was alleged. The suit sought CIPA statutory damages. None were awarded, and no settlement terms are public. [1][4] ## How did Capital One (named in the complaint, not a defendant) respond? No public statement by Capital One or Amazon Web Services was found as of 2026-10-21 (we searched news coverage, Bloomberg Law and the CourtListener docket). In court, Amazon moved to dismiss, arguing that as Capital One's service provider it fell under CIPA's exemption for parties to the call. After that motion was denied, it answered the complaint in August 2024. Capital One was not a party and did not comment in the case. [3][4] ## What was the outcome? The case ended by stipulated dismissal without prejudice in December 2024, before class certification. The July 2024 order, which held that the claims against a cloud contact-centre vendor were adequately pleaded, is the only ruling. No court found that Amazon or Capital One violated CIPA, and no regulator acted. [3][4] ## FAQ ### Was Capital One sued over Amazon Connect Voice ID? Not in this case. The 2023 suit was brought against Amazon only, and Capital One appears in it as the bank that deployed Amazon Connect on its customer-support lines. Capital One had been sued directly in September 2022 in a separate California voiceprint case, which the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed in February 2023. ### Was Amazon Connect Voice ID an AI system? The court record describes a machine-learning system. The original complaint said Voice ID uses machine learning to analyse callers' speech rhythm, pitch and tone and to create a digital voiceprint. The amended complaint and the court's order described Amazon Connect as a machine-learning-powered contact-centre service. Capital One did not describe the system in the case. ### Did the court find that Amazon illegally recorded Capital One calls? No. In July 2024 the court only decided that the allegations were plausible enough to proceed past a motion to dismiss, including the claim that Amazon could use call data for its own purposes. The case was dismissed without prejudice by agreement in December 2024, before any evidence was tested or a class certified. ## Sources 1. [Class Action Complaint, Gladstone v. Amazon.com Services LLC, No. 2:23-cv-00491 (W.D. Wash.) (Dkt. 1)](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.320579/gov.uscourts.wawd.320579.1.0.pdf) — U.S. District Court, W.D. Wash. (via CourtListener RECAP), Mar 31, 2023 (court): "Amazon Connect Voice ID uses machine learning to analyze callers’ unique voice characteristics including speech rhythm, pitch, and tone, and create a digital voiceprint for each caller." 2. [Second Amended Class Action Complaint, Gladstone v. Amazon Web Services, Inc. (Dkt. 18)](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.320579/gov.uscourts.wawd.320579.18.0.pdf) — U.S. District Court, W.D. Wash. (via CourtListener RECAP), Sep 7, 2023 (court): "Amazon Connect is a “machine-learning powered contact center service” for use in customer service departments, among others." 3. [Order on Motion to Dismiss, Gladstone v. Amazon Web Services, Inc. (Dkt. 44)](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.320579/gov.uscourts.wawd.320579.44.0.pdf) — U.S. District Court, W.D. Wash. (via CourtListener RECAP), Jul 2, 2024 (court): "Accordingly, Defendant’s Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss Second Amended Class Action Complaint (Dkt. No. 21) is DENIED." 4. [Gladstone v. Amazon Web Services Inc, No. 2:23-cv-00491 (W.D. Wash.), docket](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67116247/gladstone-v-amazon-web-services-inc/) — CourtListener (U.S. District Court, W.D. Wash. docket), Dec 23, 2024 (court): "***Civil Case Terminated re Parties' 54 Stipulation of Dismissal, pursuant to FRCP 41(a)(1)(A)(ii)." 5. [Amazon Suit Advances Over Recorded Capital One Customer Calls](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/amazon-suit-advances-over-recorded-capital-one-customer-calls) — Bloomberg Law, Jul 3, 2024 (news): "Amazon Web Services Inc. must face a proposed class action alleging it intercepted the communications consumers had with its client Capital One without their consent in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act" ## Related incidents - [Callers sued Bank of America, Capital One, TD Bank, TD Ameritrade and Fidelity over voiceprint caller ID](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-incidents/california-banks-2022-cipa-voiceprint-suits) - [Callers sued over Nuance voice biometrics on Chase customer-service calls](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-incidents/jpmorgan-chase-2022-nuance-voiceprint-suits) - [U.S. Bank customers sue Pegasystems alleging its Voice AI secretly analysed their customer-service calls](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-incidents/us-bancorp-2026-pega-voice-ai-wiretap-suit) All AI incidents at banks: https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-incidents --- Canonical page: https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-incidents/capital-one-2023-amazon-voice-id-suit Part of [BankingNewsAI](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/) — the register of AI incidents at banks: https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-incidents. 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