Couple faces up to 20 years in jail for stealing $1.2 million from Amazon

[midian182]

Amazon is known for being one of the better companies when it comes to returning faulty products, but some people do exploit the system. One couple from Muncie, Indiana took this to its extremes by stealing more than $1.2 million worth of merchandise from the online retailer.

Erin Joseph Finan and Leah Jeanette Finan, who were first accused of their crimes back in May, have formally pleaded guilty to defrauding Amazon.

The couple’s scheme involved purchasing goods from the company and falsely claiming they didn’t work or were damaged. It was then a matter of requesting replacement items from Amazon, which, in certain cases, allows customers to receive these goods before they return a broken product.

The Finans then sold both the original and replacement items to Danijel Glumac, 28, of Indianapolis for a slightly lower price than their retail value. In turn, he sold them on to an entity in New York, where they made their way to the public via the black market.

Glumac made around $1.2 million from his New York buyer and paid the Finans about $725,000. He advised the couple on how to avoid detection by Amazon by using hundreds of false online identities.

The items in question included GoPro digital cameras, Xboxs, Samsung smartwatches, and Microsoft Surface tablets.

At the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, the pair pleaded guilty to mail fraud and money laundering charges, which carry maximum 20-year sentences and fines between $250,000 - $500,000. They must also pay Amazon $1,218,504 in restitution and, under the terms of a plea agreement, waive their right to appeal if sentenced to fewer than seven years and three months in prison.

Danijel Glumac was charged for interstate transportation of stolen property and money laundering.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/71211-couple-faces-up-20-years-jail-stealing-12.html

 

[Cycloid Torus]

I'm puzzled... how did they 'pay' for the initial purchase - boxtops? or stolen credit cards? "false identities"?

I would hope that an outfit of Amazon's size has some kind of 'fraud alert'...otherwise they overlooked $1.2 million delivered to the same address!?!?

Or am I expecting too much from the world's largest online retailer?

 

[Kenrick]

I am puzzled also how can they fraud amazon. When you ask for replacement or exchange and amazon did not receive the defective item, they will charge the amount of the original item to the credit card after a certain time. The article is really lacking in information.

 

[davislane1]

I'm puzzled... how did they 'pay' for the initial purchase - boxtops? or stolen credit cards? "false identities"?

I would hope that an outfit of Amazon's size has some kind of 'fraud alert'...otherwise they overlooked $1.2 million delivered to the same address!?!?

Or am I expecting too much from the world's largest online retailer?

I am puzzled also how can they fraud amazon. When you ask for replacement or exchange and amazon did not receive the defective item, they will charge the amount of the original item to the credit card after a certain time. The article is really lacking in information.

They used different bank accounts (provided by the launderer) for each identity. Because both the original and replacement units were being resold, it doesn't matter that the accounts are charged for the original.\

As for Amazon's fraud prevention... There's obviously nothing wrong with their system. With a scheme like this, you have to wait for a pattern to develop before you can distinguish between isolated fraud (for which they will simply ban your account), lost shipping, and an actual fraud ring. This is why the perps used an inventory of credentials and bank accounts.

Where they probably messed up was shipping the products to the same geographic area. Different names, different emails, different credit cards, all shipping to the same or adjacent zip codes, all receiving defective items that somehow always get lost in return shipping.

This is what happens when dim criminals get bright ideas.

 

[Uncle Al]

I'm puzzled... how did they 'pay' for the initial purchase - boxtops? or stolen credit cards? "false identities"?

I would hope that an outfit of Amazon's size has some kind of 'fraud alert'...otherwise they overlooked $1.2 million delivered to the same address!?!?

Or am I expecting too much from the world's largest online retailer?

I'm puzzled... how did they 'pay' for the initial purchase - boxtops? or stolen credit cards? "false identities"?

I would hope that an outfit of Amazon's size has some kind of 'fraud alert'...otherwise they overlooked $1.2 million delivered to the same address!?!?

Or am I expecting too much from the world's largest online retailer?

It does seen rather strange that they could pull this off unless they had an equal number of fraudulent credit cards to go with those identities. I'll have to search out more information on this one!

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I'm puzzled... how did they 'pay' for the initial purchase - boxtops? or stolen credit cards? "false identities"?

I would hope that an outfit of Amazon's size has some kind of 'fraud alert'...otherwise they overlooked $1.2 million delivered to the same address!?!?

Or am I expecting too much from the world's largest online retailer?

I'm puzzled... how did they 'pay' for the initial purchase - boxtops? or stolen credit cards? "false identities"?

I would hope that an outfit of Amazon's size has some kind of 'fraud alert'...otherwise they overlooked $1.2 million delivered to the same address!?!?

Or am I expecting too much from the world's largest online retailer?

It does seen rather strange that they could pull this off unless they had an equal number of fraudulent credit cards to go with those identities. I'll have to search out more information on this one!

You can assume they did but there's more ways to pay for purchases than just using a credit card. You can use Pay Pal, a debit card, transfer funds directly to their account etc.

 

[treetops]

They sold the merchandise and used that money to buy more merchandise. Come on people it's not that difficult lol. I'll explain it even though I really should not have too. Here is just one example.

They claim item is broken, they get a new item, they sell both items. They now have enough money to buy 2 more items, they claim those 2 items are broken. They get replacements for those 2 items, they now have 4 items.... They sell those 4 items and it goes on and on

 

[Cycloid Torus]

They sold the merchandise and used that money to buy more merchandise. Come on people it's not that difficult lol. I'll explain it even though I really should not have too. Here is just one example.

They claim item is broken, they get a new item, they sell both items. They now have enough money to buy 2 more items, they claim those 2 items are broken. They get replacements for those 2 items, they now have 4 items.... They sell those 4 items and it goes on and on

That certainly does reflect the economics, but I am still wondering about the technique which allowed them to come in under the radar (I.e., fraud prevention should be quickly on top of any pattern which is associated with credits whether they are cash, reversed charges or replacement - especially if it is associated by common location -- I did that with the FDIC in a database search 25 years ago).

 

[treetops]

That certainly does reflect the economics, but I am still wondering about the technique which allowed them to come in under the radar (I.e., fraud prevention should be quickly on top of any pattern which is associated with credits whether they are cash, reversed charges or replacement - especially if it is associated by common location -- I did that with the FDIC in a database search 25 years ago).

As the article states multiple accounts and mainly lack of regulation on Amazons return policy.

 

[Joe Blow]

Amazon is ripping off untold amounts due to its preferential status with the U.S. government.