An activist was arrested on April 30, 2019 in the U.S., Maryland, U.S.C. No. Assembling the asses for delivery at the Amazon Supply Center in Baltimore.
Klodag Kilkoen | Reuters
U.S. The Justice Department on Friday indicted six individuals for participating in a scheme to bribe Amazon employees and contractors to gain an “unfair advantage” in the company’s online marketplace.
Federal prosecutors allege that, at least since 2017, individuals have used bribes and fraud to benefit third-party merchants selling goods in the Amazon marketplace. In some cases, individuals have worked with Amazon employees to reinstate suspended products, which have been indicted.
The indictment describes a complex, consolidated effort by outside consultants to gain valuable data on competitors from third-party sellers, as well as specialized access caches about Amazon’s internal algorithms and benefits that violate Amazon’s own rules, such as sales categories of prohibited products.
These individuals allegedly served as consultants for third-party vendors who sold a variety of goods, including household items, consumer electronics and food supplements. Some individuals could not only serve as consultants, but also sell products as third-party sellers on Amazon.
As a result of the alleged conspiracy, the individuals gained unfair competitive advantage for third-party seller accounts, valued at more than 100 100 million, according to DJ.
Amazon’s sprawling marketplace, which hosts millions of third-party sellers, now accounts for about 60% of the company’s e-commerce sales. While Marketplace has helped Amazon bring in record revenue, it also organizes counterfeit, insecure and finished goods. The company says it invests millions of dollars every year to ensure products are safe and compatible.
“There is no room for fraud in Amazon,” Amazon said in a statement to CNBC. The company added that it has systems instead of teams to investigate and prevent prohibited activities to detect suspicious behavior by vendors or employees.
It is not clear whether Amazon has fired employees involved in the bribery scheme.
“We are particularly disappointed with the actions of this limited group of former employees today, and appreciate the cooperation and support of law enforcement to bring them and the bad actors bound for justice,” Amazon added.
The six individuals charged by the DOJ are Ephraim Rosenberg, 45, a resident of Brooklyn, New York; Joseph Nielsen, 31, of New York, and Christine Lexis, 32, of New York; Hadis Nuhanovich, 30, of Ekworth, Georgia; Rohit Kadimasti, 27, of Northridge, California; And 31-year-old Nishad Kunju from Hyderabad, India.
He is charged with conspiracy to use a communication facility to obtain a commercial bribe, conspiracy to access a secure computer without authorization, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
A conspiracy to take a commercial bribe and use a communications facility to gain access to a protected computer carries a maximum of five years in prison, while a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Suspended accounts, bribes to bring back products
The individuals allegedly bribed at least 10 different Amazon employees and contractors, including Kunju, who works as a seller support associate in Hyderabad, where Amazon has an extensive corporate campus. After accepting an alleged bribe while working at Amazon, Kunju became an outside consultant for third-party vendors, during which he “recruited and bribed his former colleagues,” the DOJ said.
In return for that bribe, “corrupt” employees and contractors allegedly helped to restore suspended third-party seller accounts and product listings in Amazon’s markets, including suspended food supplements due to consumer safety complaints, household electronics and flammable. they came. Flagged for intellectual property infringement.
Amazon employees manually reinstated the suspended accounts and product list and allowed “baseless and fraudulent” appeals submitted by merchants and, in some cases, according to the defendants, the employees drafted themselves.
Employees “facilitated attacks” by suspending their accounts against third-party seller competitors, and sharing information about their revenue, customer suppliers, and advertising campaigns. They also provided information about Amazon’s internal algorithms, enabling consultants to flood competitors’ product catalogs with “imaginary negative product reviews,” the DOJ said.
These individuals bribed Amazon employees for profits for access, breaking Amazon’s third-party seller rules. Employees increased the storage limits of third-party vendors in Amazon warehouses, enabled them to offer products in the restricted category, and provided vendors with “inside knowledge” about the most successful advertising campaigns and profitable products, the DJ alleged.
Amazon has previously faced issues of internal corruption among employees. In 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon was investigating suspected data leaks and bribes by Amazon employees who offered internal data to third-party merchants to help them compete in the marketplace.
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