Hey everyone,
I'm a student experimenting with AWS and recently set up an account to try out some features. I deployed an EC2 instance, created step functions, used Lambda, and made a few DynamoDB tables. I also started a free-tier EC2 instance, connected to it via RDP, and spent less than an hour browsing some websites after downloading Chrome. Now, I was shocked to see a nearly $500 charge on my credit card for last month!
The billing details show charges like $0.045 per GB for data processed by NAT Gateways and $0.010 per GB for regional data transfers, with a total data usage of about 5000 GB. I have no idea how my account could generate this much data usage.
I'm worried about next month's bill too. Has anyone experienced something similar? I've already reached out to AWS support, but I'm unsure about how understanding they'll be. Is there any chance I could get a refund?
Thanks for reading!
3 Answers
Sorry to hear about your situation! It’s not uncommon for AWS to waive the charges for first-time mishaps. A good tip for the future is to set up AWS Budgets to monitor your spending closely. This way, you can catch any unexpected charges early on. You might want to check out this tutorial for future reference!
Hey there! If you really just set up an EC2 instance, it sounds like someone may have compromised your account. Have you set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) yet? That’s a must! It's possible that someone moved a ton of data without your knowledge. Check for other active services or any unexpected configurations in regions you haven’t worked in before.
You really need to treat this seriously — check for possible security breaches. Make sure there are no suspicious IAM users or unauthorized activities in your account. If your RDP setup was insecure or you browsed questionable sites, that could explain the data transfer. Shut down the server you were using and inspect your account settings ASAP!
Thanks for the advice! I will check my account thoroughly and make sure everything is secure.