Amazon seller committed crimes crazily in 7 years and made more than 1.3 million US dollars in profits!

Recently, a seller on Amazon’s US site was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $ 1,302,954 in compensation by a US district court for suspected wire fraud .

It is understood that the defendant, seller Ting Hong Yeung, defrauded money by manipulating Amazon's payment system over a period of 7 years, making a total profit of more than 1.3 million US dollars.

Defendant Ting Hong Yeung pleaded guilty to wire fraud on June 6 .

Amazon allows third-party sellers to use its online retail platform to advertise products, make sales and communicate with customers. Typically , when an Amazon customer buys an item sold by a third-party seller , Amazon transfers the money to the third-party seller's internal Amazon account . About every two weeks, Amazon pays the seller's bank account for the goods for which a shipping tracking number has been provided .

Yeung has three stores on Amazon , using the names Speedy Checkout, Special SaleS and California Red Trading Inc. After Yeung had been on Amazon long enough to build up a certain level of credibility for his stores, he began selling expensive furniture and home decor products at reduced prices to drive sales soaring.

However, after customers purchased the products, Yeung did not ship them , but provided Amazon with falsified tracking numbers. When customers complained that they had not received their purchased products , Yeung delayed customer refund requests long enough to ensure that Amazon deposited the funds into his business's bank account. As a result, Yeung collected payments for goods that were never shipped . At the same time, he used the time difference in refunds to force Amazon to refund dissatisfied customers under the "A-to-z" refund policy , causing the Amazon platform to suffer huge losses .

In order to continue to defraud customers of their money, in some cases Yeung did not send them the products they ordered, but instead substituted cheap crystal jewelry for the original products. This served the dual purpose of generating tracking numbers that prompted Amazon to transfer funds to his account for the customers’ purchases, while also preventing customer complaints and refunds. Yeung also used Amazon’s buyer messaging service to make customers believe their orders were on their way when, in fact, they were not.

Prosecutors in the case said in a sentencing memorandum :   Defendant Yeung committed numerous frauds over a period of approximately seven years , defrauding a total of more than $1.3 million, and when Amazon discovered his fraudulent activities and shut down his store , he continued to commit fraud in other stores .

Yeung admitted that he caused Amazon to suffer losses of approximately $1,302,954 due to fraud , and he has agreed to pay restitution .

Investigators seized a large amount of gold and silver bars when they searched his residence in February 2022 , which will be used to pay the restitution.

Amazon sellers must pay attention to compliance when operating their stores, because if they violate the platform regulations, they may be fined or face jail time. The editor here reminds all sellers not to take risks.

Amazon Platform

Scams