Amazon sues scammers for stealing millions of dollars via fake returns

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon has sued an enterprising group called REKK, which is responsible for stealing millions of dollars of products from Amazon’s online stores through systematic refund abuse.

Through the lawsuit, Amazon said it aims to expose their conspiracy and hold them accountable for their fraudulent activity. Protecting customers and earning the trust of selling partners are core values at Amazon.

Retail theft is a persistent problem that plagues online and physical retailers alike.

“One form of retail theft involves systematic refund fraud, which undermines Amazon’s ability to efficiently serve customers and selling partners. Customers who shop in Amazon’s online stores should be delighted with their purchases, and if they are not, they should be able to easily return the product,” the lawsuit read.

Among other places, REKK operates a Telegram channel that has over 30,000 followers, where they brazenly advertise refund services that they fully admit are fraudulent.

“In this scheme, bad actors who want a free product (like an iPad) pay REKK a fee (such as 30 per cent of the product’s cost) to obtain a fraudulent refund,” according to the lawsuit.

REKK uses sophisticated methods to obtain the refund, including socially engineering Amazon customer service, phishing Amazon employees, manipulating Amazon’s systems through unauthorised access, and bribing Amazon insiders to grant refunds.

The scheme tricks Amazon into processing refunds for products that are never returned, instead of returning the products as promised.

“Defendants keep the product and the refund. REKK boasts that the organisation has fraudulently refunded over 100,000 orders from retailers (not just Amazon),” said Amazon.

Also read: RBI fines HDFC Bank and Bank of America