Former Amazon Employee Arrested For Fraudulent Conduct
October 9, 2020A former Amazon employee has been arrested and charged over fraudulent conduct. Vu Anh Nguyen, falsely issued refunds for products ordered on Amazon.com to himself and his associates. The company reported his wrongdoings to the authorities in July 2020.
Apparently, Amazon has systems and processes in place that monitor and report misuse of its systems and to detect suspicious behavior. This is how it was able to identify Nguyen’s suspicious refunds. The report prompted a thorough investigation into the matter, which resulted in the immediate termination of his employment.
The U.S. Department of Justice brought charges against Nguyen for federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. This complaint can read on the US Government Public Access to Court Electronic Record (PACER) site, under U.S. v. Vu Anh Nguyen (Case: 2:20-mj-08266). However, a subscription is required to access the document.
Photo by Jessica Lewis from Pexels
This isn’t the first time that Amazon has had run-ins with fraudsters. It’s a recurring problem that not only affects the company itself, but its customers as well. That is why it established its own Counterfeit Crimes Unit to bring wrongdoers who violate the law and Amazon’s policies by listing counterfeit products in its store, to justice.
Great emphasis is placed on the need to ‘smoke out’ merchants with counterfeit products. Amazon says that, “its comprehensive proactive anti-counterfeit programs have ensured that 99.9% of all Amazon products viewed by customers did not have a valid counterfeit complaint.”
“Every counterfeiter is on notice that they will be held accountable to the maximum extent possible under the law, regardless of where they attempt to sell their counterfeits or where they’re located,” said Dharmesh Mehta, Vice President, Customer Trust and Partner Support, Amazon.
Amazon happens to be one of the leading e-merchant sites in the world. As such, the need for it to take proactive steps to protect its customers, is growing exponentially. As someone who has fallen prey to fraud, Amazon’s efforts should be emulated by various other outlets in order to truly clamp down on counterfeit and fraudulent business practices.
