Amazon announces a crackdown on “false orders and fraud”: it has won the first instance of four related civil lawsuits this year

On the evening of June 19, Amazon announced its progress in combating unfair competition in China in 2024. Since this year, Amazon has won the first instance of four civil lawsuits involving bill fraud in Shenzhen and Shanghai.

At the same time, Amazon supported local law enforcement agencies in Shandong, Ningxia, Fujian and Jiangxi to launch operations against four criminal cases of bill fraud, and the law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 20 people involved.

Since 2023, Amazon has prosecuted 14 fraud service provider groups in China and recently obtained first-instance winning judgments in four cases.

In these four civil lawsuits, the illegal services provided by the defendant service providers include but are not limited to "ranking optimization", "pull-down promotion", "merging international reviews", "Shangzhi comments", "association" Video", "Guidance of positive reviews" and "Instant sale control", etc.

Specific behaviors include: using technical means to manipulate the ranking of product keyword search results; manipulating buyer accounts to produce false or misleading product reviews and related videos; guiding sellers to publish advertisements and products on foreign social media platforms, Guide buyers to Amazon to purchase products and review them; induce consumers to visit the seller's website or scan the QR code on the seller's card to submit positive reviews by providing free warranty, giving gifts, etc. to consumers on the Amazon site. These services include fraudulent orders and reviews based on fake or real transactions.

In the first instance of the above case, the court found that the services provided by the defendant service provider constituted unfair competition. The court ordered the defendant service provider to stop its bill-brushing service, make a public statement to eliminate the impact, and compensate for related losses. These cases are currently in the second instance trial process.

In addition, the service provider in another civil case has taken the initiative to seek settlement, stopped its order brushing service, made financial compensation, and has publicly stated its admission of unfair competition and the negative impact it has caused.

In addition to civil litigation, Amazon has also assisted law enforcement agencies in strengthening criminal crackdowns. In four criminal cases in Shandong, Ningxia, Fujian and Jiangxi, the illegal behaviors of the companies involved included but were not limited to hiring employees to act as "online trolls", posting good or bad reviews for specific products for a fee, and deleting bad reviews for sellers and making profits from them. wait. Currently, all four cases are in the investigation stage.

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