Amazon sues ecommerce fraud gang that stole millions in fake refunds
Amazon has taken legal action against an international fraud ring known as REKK, which the e-commerce platform says has stolen millions of dollars worth of products from stores through “systematic refund abuse.”
The case names a total of 20 individuals associated with REKK from around the world, including the US, Canada, England and other European countries such as Greece, Lithuania and the Netherlands.
Amazon goes so far as to claim that seven individual Amazon employees were also responsible for facilitating these crimes, all of whom were US residents.
Amazon tackles 'largest' underground refund scheme
Amazon said REKK is “one of the largest organizations in an underground industry that offers fraudulent refunds to users” and promotes its services online on places like Telegram, where it has more than 35,000 followers. REKK also uses platforms such as Nulled, Reddit and Discord.
The company claims that REKK criminals use social engineering and phishing on Amazon customer service agents, and manipulate Amazon systems through unauthorized access and bribery to get customers refunds. Customers in turn usually pay a much lower amount than the price of the item, for example 30%.
Amazon said it spent $1.2 billion and hired 15,000 people last year to fight theft and fraud. It has also rolled out technologies such as machine learning to help spot suspicious refund requests.
A pinned post in REKK's Telegram channel reads: “Choose a refund responsibly because it is not legal, but I can personally say that I reduce the risk for my customers to 0.”
The group also has more than 33,000 customers, 100,000 orders and 10,000 vouchers.
REKK charges a 30% fee on orders on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, with a limit of up to $10,000 worth of products across five items. Some other markets charge a 35% fee. The note also mentions that orders must be shipped directly from Amazon.
Amazon's eleven requests to the court include that the defendants “pay all general, special, actual and statutory damages that Amazon has suffered or will suffer,” that they foot the bill for Amazon's legal action, and that they “reimburse pay to Amazon an amount equal to their unjust enrichment.”
Amazon declined to comment on the amount for which it has sued the defendants, but a company spokesperson referred us to VP of WW Selling Partner Services Dharmesh Mehta's post at LinkedIn.