The Federal Trade Commission is making another pass at getting money to Amazon Flex drivers, this time by depositing Zelle payments straight into the bank accounts of people who never cashed the refund check they were already owed. The money stems from a years-old case over tips Amazon withheld from its delivery drivers, and this latest round targets the drivers who slipped through earlier distributions. For anyone who did gig delivery work for Amazon in the late 2010s, an uncashed check may be about to turn into a direct deposit.
Why some drivers are getting paid a second time around
The refund is not a new settlement. It is the FTC’s continued effort to close the gap left by paper checks that were mailed but never deposited. The agency recently updated its guidance to say it is now sending Zelle payments to people who didn’t cash their check, routing the money electronically to reach drivers whom the mail missed. When a Zelle payment goes through, it lands directly in the recipient’s bank account with a note identifying it as tied to the settlement.
This is at least the third wave of payments in the matter. The FTC first sent refunds in November 2021 and issued a second round in May 2025, and together those distributions returned more than $60.6 million in withheld tips to drivers. Switching to Zelle for the stragglers is an attempt to raise participation further, reaching people who moved, discarded an unfamiliar envelope, or simply never got around to depositing a check.
The electronic route only reaches drivers whose bank accounts are linked to an email address or phone number the agency already has on file, which is why the switch closes some gaps but not all. A Zelle payment generally must be accepted within a set number of days before it expires, and drivers the method still cannot reach may be mailed a fresh check instead. Either way the amount owed does not change; only the way it is delivered does.
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The tips Amazon was found to have kept
The underlying case dates to 2021, when Amazon agreed to pay $61.7 million to settle FTC charges that it withheld a portion of the tips customers left for Amazon Flex drivers over a roughly two-and-a-half-year stretch. Flex drivers are independent contractors who deliver packages using their own vehicles, and customer tips were meant to go to them in full. The FTC alleged Amazon quietly used some of that tip money to cover its own labor costs rather than passing it through as promised.
The dispute traced back to a change in how the drivers were paid. When the Flex program began, Amazon advertised a set hourly range plus 100 percent of customer tips; the FTC alleged that in 2016 the company lowered the base rate and used the withheld tips to make up the difference, without telling drivers or customers, and kept doing so until an inquiry surfaced the practice in 2019. Money customers intended as a bonus for the driver was, in effect, subsidizing pay the company had promised to cover itself.
When the agency began returning the money to drivers, it worked from Amazon’s own records to calculate what each driver was owed, so no application was ever required. That same principle governs the current Zelle round: eligible drivers do not file a claim, submit paperwork, or pay anything to be repaid. The distribution is automatic, and the FTC identifies recipients rather than asking them to come forward.
Older adults have a real stake in this. Flex-style delivery has been a common source of flexible, part-time income for people in and near retirement, and a driver from that era may have an uncollected payment waiting without realizing it. A relative helping an older family member review finances may want to watch for an unexpected Zelle deposit referencing the settlement.
How to tell a real payment from a copycat scam
A genuine electronic refund creates an obvious opening for fraud, because impostors know a legitimate payout is circulating and try to ride alongside it. The rule that protects a recipient is that the FTC never asks anyone to pay money, buy a gift card, or hand over account passwords to receive a refund. A real Zelle payment simply appears in the account; it does not require the recipient to “confirm” a deposit by sharing a login code or paying a release fee.
Anyone unsure whether a message is authentic can verify it through the refund administrator at the FTC’s published number, 1-800-654-8874, rather than any contact information supplied in a text or email out of the blue. A driver who thinks they may be owed but has not seen a payment can also check the FTC’s own refunds page for the case rather than clicking a link from an unsolicited message.
The broader point is that this distribution shows how far agencies will go to return money years after the fact, switching payment methods to reach people the first checks missed. That persistence is good news for the drivers still owed, and it is also a reminder that when a refund is real, it costs nothing to collect.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed against primary sources by The Money Overview editorial team.
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