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Four brothers from New York State have been exiled after they allegedly tried to defraud Amazon.com of roughly $ 32 million – and with at least $ 19 million in what authorities have described as an ‘overshipping’ scheme , federal officials.
Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan have accused Yoel, Heshl, Zishe and Shmuel Abraham in connection with allegations that they “manipulated Amazon’s vendor system” by changing invoices and, in turn, paying Amazon for products that were never ordered, according to a prosecutor who was not detained Wednesday in the Southern District of New York.
They were arrested Wednesday morning for the scheme, which authorities said lasted from 2017 to 2019.
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Cristina Posa, associate general counsel and director of the Amazon Counterfeit Crimes Unit, said in a statement posted on the company’s website that they were “grateful” for the work of the agencies.
“While our proactive checks ensure that the vast majority of the vendors in our store are honest entrepreneurs, fraudsters are trying to violate our policies, crack down on our customers,” Posa said, “and damage our store, and we look forward to cooperation with legislators holds these bad actors responsible for their illegal activities. “
According to the indictment, the Abraham brothers accepted purchase orders from Amazon and “agreed to supply the small quantities of goods” that were requested through the transaction – instead of “they” shipped, invoiced and received payment for goods that [Amazon] had not agreed to purchase, as for prices and quantities [Amazon] did not agree. ”
In one instance around 2018, they apparently agreed to an order for a single case of 12 cans of disinfectant spray, costing $ 94.03 per pack. Instead, they successfully billed “for 7,000 individual toothbrushes” for $ 94.03 each, and cost the company $ 658,210, the prosecutor claims.
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And on July 18, they agreed to ship one perfume to designer, which would have cost $ 289.78 per unit, prosecutors say. Instead, they allegedly manipulated Amazon’s system, “and shipped 927 units of a tool for trimming plastic fires,” for $ 289.78 each, according to court documents. In total, they have reportedly successfully leased Amazon more than $ 268,000 through the deal.
In other cases, the prosecutor states, they would “confirm an order – and thereby agree to send the goods at the prices and in specified quantities – and then simply send and invoice [Amazon] for excessive amounts of goods. ”
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Each time Amazon closes its vendor accounts, the Abrahams would create new accounts under different identities or with different email addresses, according to a press release.
The brothers, who lived just outside New York City and ranged in age from 24 to 32, were each accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and wire fraud, the release states.
Peter C. Fitzhugh, special agent in charge of HSI’s field office in New York, said the quartet was engaged in “a sophisticated and lowly fraudulent billing scheme” in an alleged attempt to defraud the company Jeff Bezos out of tens of millions of dollars.
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“Invoice fraud is not abuse without victimization,” Fitzhugh said in a statement issued with the release. “Millions of dollars in revenue loss have a negative impact on a company’s ability to provide cost effective services to legitimate customers using the provider’s platform.”
