VDe Vector

Three men convicted of millions fraud involving Amazon returns

The court imposed prison sentences for fraud in which, according to the judgment, goods were kept while refunds were nevertheless claimed.

The court in Assen has convicted three men of large-scale fraud involving returns to Amazon. They received prison sentences and, in one case, a community service order as well. According to Amazon, the damage ran into the millions.

The Noord-Nederland District Court issued its ruling on 3 November in a case involving so-called refund fraud. According to the judgment, goods were ordered from Amazon, registered as returns and then not returned or not returned correctly, while the purchase price was refunded.

According to Crimesite, two men from Hoogeveen received prison sentences of 20 and 35 months. Crimesite reported that a 34-year-old man from Emmer-Compascuum received ten months in prison, five of them suspended, and 480 hours of community service. The names of those convicted have been anonymised in the public judgment.

The court established in its judgment that one of the suspects used 17 Amazon customer accounts. The records included goods for which Amazon had refunded the purchase price without receiving the correct product in return. The court found it proven that the suspect ordered the goods together with others, requested refunds and then sold the products or concealed their origin.

The judgment states that, for the suspect at the centre of the case, refunds totalling €637,349.83 without correct returns had been established. After conversion, the court linked that amount to $694,726.29. Amazon joined the criminal case as an injured party.

The court considered Amazon’s damages claim too extensive and complicated to deal with in full within the criminal proceedings. Amazon was declared inadmissible for most of the claim, meaning the company can bring that part before the civil court. The court did establish that the suspect was civilly liable for directly proven damage.

The case shows how return policies can be abused when refunds and the physical receipt of a parcel are not properly matched. The court described, among other things, links between customer accounts, serial numbers, orders and refunds. This does not mean that every return or every customer account involved was fraudulent.

The convictions are rulings by the court of first instance. The public sources available for this article do not show whether all the suspects will appeal. Nor has it been established that the full amount of damage cited by Amazon has already been definitively awarded.

Respond to this article

← Back to the edition