New scam? "Amazon blind boxes" sold at low prices

Recently, several new websites have appeared on the Internet, using Amazon blind boxes as a promotional point. According to the description, these products are all returned products from Amazon and other well-known e-commerce platforms. These products have certain themes and prices, and consumers can buy them according to their preferences, but there is no way to know what the specific products are.

Buying a blind box is not just about the product, it also brings a sense of tension and excitement when opening the box. Moreover, the price is generally relatively low, and there is a good market both at home and abroad.

But some time ago, Amazon conducted a large-scale screening of blind box products and stated that according to Amazon policy, the sale of blind boxes or similar products is prohibited. All blind box products suspected of violating regulations by sellers have been removed from the shelves.

Plus, Amazon has millions of returned products destroyed every year, and these sites just happen to combine the two.

But according to CPR's investigation, these platforms are likely to be phishing platforms using Amazon as a gimmick. Because these websites are basically the same design, even the registered domain name is the same, the purpose is likely to be phishing. For example, show-shops.top and tiny-shops.top are two similar websites.

In addition to being sold on online platforms, these "Amazon blind boxes" are also active on various social media platforms. They are usually purchased at a low price, and then unpacked to reveal high-end products, in order to attract more buyers. If you look closely at the profiles of these accounts, you will find that they are almost all false information, and the content of the posts is also in poor foreign language.

A buyer shared her experience of being deceived. She bought four blind boxes at a unit price of 6 euros, but after receiving the goods, she found that they were all low-quality products, such as cheap headphones and smart watches.

Amazon's popularity has also boosted the activity of related gray industry chains. It is not the first time that Amazon has been used as bait by cybercriminals. According to CPR's survey, in the second quarter of 2021, Amazon-related phishing cases accounted for 11%.

It is right to start from the consumer's shopping psychology, but selling goods must first be conscientious and must not take advantage of loopholes. Although blind box products are banned from sale by Amazon, sellers can also take advantage of consumers' curiosity and create another form of "blind box".

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