A US gang was prosecuted for defrauding Amazon of more than $700,000

Recently, 404 Media, a well-known American technology website , and Court Watch , a non-profit organization that urges transparency and fairness in the American judicial system , cooperated to report a lawsuit filed by federal prosecutors in court last month.

In the lawsuit, federal prosecutors detailed how a criminal gang recruited ordinary shoppers to "buy goods, then refund them, and then use various means to retain the refunded goods for personal use or to sell them for profit."

The group, known as the Artemis Refund Group (ARG) , has 10 people accused of colluding to commit wire fraud. The gang has existed for years and has been helping shoppers who approached them to make false refunds or returns for online orders.

The indictment also states that ARG would obtain detailed order information from shoppers and then use those details to communicate with the shopping platform's customer service department.

If the platform agrees to refund without return, ARG will take a certain percentage of the refund and the customer will keep the product. When the return cost exceeds the value of the seller's goods, platforms such as Amazon, Walmart and Target will choose to provide refund without return.

If a seller requests a return, ARG sends something else to replace the original item. If a retailer sends a replacement, ARG accepts the item, sells it, and splits the money with the shopper who kept the original item.

Prosecutors said thousands of shoppers took advantage of ARG's fraudulent scheme to buy high-priced items at discounts of up to 85%. A government informant bought a Kate Spade handbag worth $541.41 in February with the help of ARG and a MacBook Pro on Amazon in May with the help of the gang.

Prosecutors said the group received so many returned merchandise that one of its members had to rent a warehouse to store it.

Amazon has acknowledged that the group cost the company more than $700,000, and prosecutors say the refund scam has cost the shopping platforms involved millions of dollars.

In addition, 404 Media and Court Watch found that many Reddit and Telegram groups openly discuss refund fraud tips and provide specific advice for individual retailers. The media found at least six such sub-forums, including r/illegallifeprotips2, which has more than 100,000 followers.

404 Media also pointed out that delivery drivers, many of whom are temporary workers, are often the first victims of customer complaints about lost or damaged goods.

Amazon

Gang crime

Refund Only Scam