New progress in Amazon employee bribery case, two more people plead guilty

Compared with offline physical stores, cross-border e-commerce platforms entered the public eye later, but they have developed rapidly and have strong profitability, attracting many sellers. However, the supervision and intensity of the platform have not yet formed a complete and mature supervision system and strong authority, which has also provided opportunities for criminals. Large platforms such as Amazon and Walmart have become their "favorites".

Amazon almost had another accident, and many people were suspected of manipulating the market of millions

Just as one wave of troubles subsides, another wave of troubles arises. Not long after Amazon sued a Hong Kong fake order company, another Amazon-related incident caught the attention of sellers.

Nick Brown, a local prosecutor in Seattle , recently announced that two key participants in a scheme to bribe Amazon employees and contractors pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges in a local court , including seeking benefits for some sellers on Amazon through fraud and bribery, which affected fair competition in the market.

It is understood that the two defendants are Joseph Nelson, 32 , and Kristen Leches , 33 , both of whom are residents of New York . They admitted that their crimes included conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to violate the Travel Act, and filing false tax returns. It is reported that the sentencing will be on September 9 this year , and the defendants are not the only ones.

Of the six criminals accused , three have admitted that they were involved in a multimillion-dollar scheme to manipulate the Amazon market . Due to the large amount of money involved, this case has also attracted further attention from the industry to this type of black and gray industry chain.  

Judging from the specific content of the case, the acts of conspiracy by several people include conspiring to bribe Amazon employees and contractors , so that they can use their unique permissions ( access to Amazon's network and confidential information ) to seek improper benefits for some sellers, such as interfering with the monitoring of the safety and authenticity of the goods sold , and publishing false statements.

In addition, the two also admitted that they conspired to bribe: obtain Amazon's confidential business information; have suspended third-party sellers and product listings reinstated on the market; circumvent Amazon's restrictions and limitations on certain products; obtain restricted product categories by misrepresenting the origin of goods; manipulate customer reviews; and monitor and attack other merchants and product listings , etc.

Nelson also admitted to filing a false tax return in 2017 , causing the local tax loss of more than $44,000. In addition, he added that he failed to file tax returns on behalf of his Amazon consulting company in 2018 and 2019. For several other people , it is reported that further trials are still underway, and several people will face different degrees of legal responsibility and a certain amount of fines based on the crimes they committed.

It is not difficult to imagine that if such cases occur frequently, it will have an immeasurable impact on the platform and sellers. It should be noted that although the case occurred abroad, due to the commonality, sharing and confidentiality of platform information, most sellers at home and abroad may become "victims".

In the past two years, Amazon has repeatedly become the main "target" of such criminals. Driven by the huge profits of the "underground industry chain", in addition to external personnel, internal employees of the platform sometimes become accomplices of these criminals, which has had an extremely bad impact on the fair competition of sellers on the platform.

Earlier, seven employees were fired by Amazon for helping sellers hijack other sellers' accounts and products .

This is not the first time that a case of collusion has occurred, and the chaos in the e-commerce industry continues

According to foreign media reports, a seller recruited Amazon employees through LinkedIn and Facebook to hijack other sellers' accounts and copy their products, involving a total transaction amount of $160,000 over a period of several years . Once the matter was discovered, the seven employees were fired by Amazon.

By bribing Amazon employees, the seller can copy other sellers' best-selling products and block the original sellers' links. One of the victimized sellers said that he lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and was forced to lay off half of his employees. In the process, they will also set a ransom to threaten the sellers and extort them on the grounds of restoring their accounts.

Such collusion between Amazon employees and sellers has occurred from time to time. Some sellers said that all kinds of vicious competition in the circle are not uncommon, and many things cannot be completely eliminated. Sellers who suffer losses can only blame themselves for their bad luck.

Among these bribes, in addition to helping sellers improve their rankings and relaxing platform permissions, manipulating customer reviews is also a key link.

Reviews are an important factor influencing consumers' online shopping. Consumer surveys show that products with more positive reviews are more popular, so fake reviews have become a major non-compliant behavior for e-commerce sellers. Especially for new products, even if they know that the platform explicitly prohibits it, many sellers will use this method to improve their rankings and ensure that they can "survive".

With the booming e-commerce market, the phenomenon of fake reviews has become more rampant. According to a report from the foreign review website Trustpilot, the number of platform reviews reached 46.7 million in 2021, and the number of fake reviews detected is also increasing. Among them, the platform deleted a total of 2.7 million reviews in 2021, an increase of 23% year-on-year over 2020, and the number of warnings issued also exceeded 120,000, a three-fold increase year-on-year.

As an e-commerce giant, Amazon has also developed rapidly during the epidemic, and has become a place where fake reviews are rampant. Amazon has also been warned many times and asked to increase supervision of platform reviews. Last year's crackdown on violations caused panic in the industry, and the number of fake reviews has decreased accordingly.

However, this behavior still persists, and Amazon is constantly taking measures. For example, it sued several order-padding companies some time ago, starting from the source and once again sounding the alarm for sellers.

In addition to collusion between employees and sellers, Amazon also has constant internal problems, and disputes among warehouse employees are common. Earlier, foreign media also reported an Amazon warehouse manager stealing.

Specifically, the warehouse manager stole high-value components including internal hard drives, processors, and CPUs. Over a period of nearly two years, he used Amazon's inventory tracking system to locate specific packages and sold the products to a wholesaler in California.

The total value of the stolen products is approximately $270,000, and the warehouse manager faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In addition to problems with Amazon’s internal employees, due to the size of the Amazon platform itself, sellers may also be "misjudged" during the communication process with the platform. Regardless of the situation, sellers must file a complaint as soon as possible, reasonably safeguard their rights, and reduce unnecessary losses.

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