Amazon addresses AWS billing bug that showed customers billions in erroneous charges
Amazon confirmed that a bug in its AWS billing computation subsystem caused some customers to see estimated charges ranging from a few million to roughly $2.5 billion for cloud usage last week. The figures, displayed through Amazon’s billing portal, did not reflect actual charges, and affected customers are not expected to pay the inflated amounts.
What happened with the AWS billing estimates?
Inaccurate billing data began appearing late Thursday, according to an update on Amazon’s service status page. By Friday morning, Amazon indicated that rolling back a recent change had not resolved the problem. As of the time of reporting, the company expected the issue to persist for several more hours.
What did customers see?
Screenshots posted on Reddit by AWS users showed billing estimates reaching as high as roughly $2.5 billion for a single month’s usage. Other alerts fell in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars, far exceeding any plausible usage for typical cloud customers.
Amazon clarified that the displayed estimates do not reflect real usage and charges.
How did Amazon respond?
When contacted for comment, Amazon spokesperson Aisha Johnson directed questions to the company’s status page and did not provide additional detail. Amazon also declined to say whether any AWS accounts had been suspended or paused as a result of the billing display error.
This article summarizes reporting from techcrunch.com, techcrunch.com.
FAQ
Did AWS customers actually get billed billions of dollars?
No. Amazon confirmed the inflated figures were caused by a bug in its billing computation subsystem and do not reflect real usage or charges. Affected customers are not expected to pay the displayed amounts.
How high did the erroneous billing estimates go?
Screenshots posted on Reddit showed estimates reaching as high as roughly $2.5 billion for a single month’s usage, with other alerts in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Has Amazon fixed the AWS billing display issue?
As of the time of reporting, Amazon’s status page indicated that rolling back a recent change had not resolved the problem and that the issue was expected to persist for several more hours.