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Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

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Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#31

Post by eco »

I just ordered a MyQ garage door hub from Amazon Warehouse (listed as missing or damaged original packaging). When I opened it up it felt a little off. The protective film on the device had obviously been removed and reattached and nothing fit very well in the designated slots in the packaging. The device itself had faint scratches and dust on it.

I decided to check the model number and sure enough, it was the previous model. Someone had obviously ordered the new model (presumably because the new one gained support for Apple HomeKit) then stuffed their old one in the box and done a refund through Amazon.

Amazon handled it fine and I got a replacement that was correct but now I'm pretty skeptical of how Amazon processes the returned items they place up for sale again.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#33

Post by kbenson »

Operyl wrote: post #19
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #8

This is so bizarrely stupid, but it does lead to some questions: 1. What did this man think was going to happen? That Amazon would never open the boxes he returned? Certainly after 370k worth I'm surprised he didn't get flagged much earlier. 2. What normally happens to Amazon returns? The article makes it sound like they are rarely opened. That seems bizarre to me. I would have thought they'd have a system for proces…

2. Amazon kind of sorts them onto pallets that they eventually auction off, blindly. A lot of sellers buy these, like prepackaged storage lockers. They then sort through the junk, see what they can make a buck on, and resell on eBay or elsewhere.

That's the ultimate lost bet when bidding on Amazon returned merchandise. A pallet full of dirt likely in the boxes of expensive brand name items.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#34

Post by muzika »

eco wrote: post #31

I just ordered a MyQ garage door hub from Amazon Warehouse (listed as missing or damaged original packaging). When I opened it up it felt a little off. The protective film on the device had obviously been removed and reattached and nothing fit very well in the designated slots in the packaging. The device itself had faint scratches and dust on it. I decided to check the model number and sure enough, it was the previo…

I buy many retuned items from Amazon warehouse. I find that about 5% of them are like this - people put either their old item or some other junk back in the box. Just happened again 2 days ago with a stroller my wife bought.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#35

Post by hangonhn »

I've encountered another scam regarding Amazon returns where the seller would ship from overseas. The item I ordered would be nothing like the description. So I filed for a refund and the seller was like "sure, here's the form and you can pay for shipping". As you can imagine because of the postage rates differences, it was a lot more expensive for me to send it back vs. the cost to them to ship to the US. In fact the shipping cost was almost the cost of the item.

I contacted Amazon customer service and they issued me the refund without requiring me to send anything back but I wonder how many people just gave up. Amazon's customer service is a huge part of the reason I order so much through them. I feel comfortable buying things off of Amazon and has never had to "eat the cost" of shady sellers.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#36

Post by rahimnathwani »

eco wrote: post #31

I just ordered a MyQ garage door hub from Amazon Warehouse (listed as missing or damaged original packaging). When I opened it up it felt a little off. The protective film on the device had obviously been removed and reattached and nothing fit very well in the designated slots in the packaging. The device itself had faint scratches and dust on it. I decided to check the model number and sure enough, it was the previo…

I had a similar experience with an expensive Toto toilet seat from Amazon Warehouse Deals.

When it arrived, it was clear the packaging had been opened (which I expected), but:

- the toilet seat had signs of handling

- it didn't work when installed

- the previous purchasers return note was in the box. IIRC they said the reason for return was that they changed their mind about wanting it

My guess is that they bought a replacement on Amazon, and fraudulently sent back their old non-functioning one in the new packaging.

Amazon gave me a refund without fuss.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#38

Post by quickthrower2 »

gen3 wrote: post #37
rahulsom wrote: post #28

I'm curious why Amazon didn't investigate what was happening until his returns totaled $370k.

I'm curious how it even totaled 370k. Returning enough items to get that high should set off alarms!

Forget returning that much. Even just spending that much at Amazon to begin with should set off an alarms, e.g. is this a stolen card? money laundering?

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#39

Post by bestnameever »

OldHand2018 wrote: post #22
dawnerd wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re amazon returns: either sent back to the third party seller or tossed into return pallets. If you watch some videos of them it becomes pretty clear amazon doesn’t check. A lot of electronics swapped out.

I've had multiple Amazon returns in which I dropped off the packages at a physical Amazon location, had them scanned, and received a paper receipt with the confirmation number. A few days later, look on your account and there has been no return. Try to look it up using the confirmation number and it doesn't exist. Open a customer support ticket, go back and forth a dozen times before they understand what you are tryi…

Where I am, I usually drop off packages at a physical Amazon Location and I have an email about monies refunded to me before I get home.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#40

Post by dmix »

wpietri wrote: post #29
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #8

This is so bizarrely stupid, but it does lead to some questions: 1. What did this man think was going to happen? That Amazon would never open the boxes he returned? Certainly after 370k worth I'm surprised he didn't get flagged much earlier. 2. What normally happens to Amazon returns? The article makes it sound like they are rarely opened. That seems bizarre to me. I would have thought they'd have a system for proces…

> What did this man think was going to happen? I think you're giving him too much credit. People try things. They repeat the things that work. Most thinking happens when the behavior stops working. That's why long/broken feedback loops in systems are so dangerous. E.g., a big reason the Challenger disaster happened is NASA ignoring warning signs because they had gotten away with it before. If a zillion NASA engineers…

> Theranos. How many people with advanced degrees worked there without ever catching on to how screwed they were?

Tons of people inside Thernos asked questions and then eventually left when they realized there was no answer. Especially the smart guys at the top who knew the most.

The book said the securty guy described an almost constant flow of people turning in their badges/fobs from getting fired by the Balwani guy. The team was constantly losing talent and replacing them... but they always had enough money, reputable backers, and positive PR to fool the rest and attract more.

Any lively business community with plenty of easy money floating around will attract a scammy subset. That's a human problem, not one unique to startups. Finance has plenty too, as does fracking, just like biotech did with Theranos. And it's a problem largely accounted for by established VCs as it's always a risk.

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