Counterfeit products are repeatedly sold by fraudsters on Amazon. Customers are deliberately misled by the scammers and receive defective goods because the products are also shipped via Prime and are “sponsored” by Amazon.
Business Insider has ordered alleged Airpods Pro from Apple on a trial basis and actually kept the inferior goods. A consumer advocate describes this as fraud.
Amazon responds to Business Insider’s request and takes the product offline. The company states that it has several initiatives against scammers on the platform.
Airpods Pro from Apple usually cost around 200 euros. That’s why we were amazed when we saw an offer on Amazon where the “Airpods Pro” should only cost 19.99 euros – shipping within one day with Prime and sponsored by Amazon at the same time. So the ad was displayed right after the search.
However, if you take a closer look, it becomes clear that this is by no means the original. Rather, a fraudster is trying to deliberately mislead Amazon customers. The name of the article couldn’t be more confusing: [Apple MFi-zertifiziert] Airpods Pro Wireless Earbuds, kabelloses Headset mit Touch Control, …
Business Insider
We ordered the headphones as a test and they were actually delivered by one of their own couriers a day later – in line with the Prime promise. From the outside, the packaging looks quite similar to the original and the product also looks similar to the real Airpods. But the quality and workmanship is miserable. It is obviously a counterfeit product.
Business Insider
Carola Elbrecht from the federal center of the consumer association no longer sees such offers as misleading advertising, as well as counterfeit products and brands, but: “Rather, criminal activity and thus fraud can be assumed here,” she tells Business Insider.
That’s what Amazon says about the allegations
A look at the reviews also shows what machinations are behind it. Apparently, a socket in America was sold on the same article page until recently. In this way, very good product ratings could be collected over several years. There are only bad reviews of the headphones from the recent past.
read too
But why does Amazon allow fraudsters to use the platform and even promote it with Prime shipping and advertisements? Amazon even collects the ads itself, because the retailers pay to be sponsored.
Just hours after Business Insider contacted Amazon, the article was taken offline. “Amazon strictly prohibits counterfeit products in our store. We know trust is hard to earn and easy to lose,” a spokesman told Business Insider. In 2022, Amazon invested more than $1.2 billion and employed over 15,000 people to protect the store from counterfeiting, fraud and other forms of abuse. “If we become aware of a violation, we will take appropriate action, which may include closing the seller account. The product in question has been removed and the investigation continues.”
“It is good and right that Amazon reacts immediately to fraud reports”
The company has not responded to allegations that Amazon is benefiting from the ads. “However, it is good and right that Amazon reacts immediately to fraudulent reports and takes the products offline,” says consumer advocate Elbrecht. “Regardless of this, the question arises as to whether Amazon should examine the access of retailers to sponsored product placements more critically for this type of advertising. Because this gives scammers an easy way to sell their fakes to unsuspecting consumers.”
read too
Amazon itself points to several programs with which it wants to put a stop to fraudsters. For example, companies can register their trademarks and thus block counterfeit products. For this purpose, the Counterfeit Crimes Unit was founded in 2020, which deals with combating fraudsters on the platform. “In 2022, Amazon sued or referred for investigation over 1,300 criminals in the US, UK, EU and China and shut down over 6 million counterfeit products,” the spokesman said.
read too
