Amazon took aim at professional refunders and the customers who use their services this week. And they threw the book at them, suing them for various issues, including fraud, breach of contract, use of trademarks, and anything else they could.
At the heart of the criminal enterprise they targeted is an organization known as “Chin Chopa,”, a name synonymous with refund fraud on Telegram and dark web channels.
The Amazon lawsuit is incredibly detailed on how the scheme played out.
Chin Chopa Stole Over $1 Million From Amazon
According to a lawsuit filed by Amazon, Chin Chopa stole over a million dollars worth of products from the company’s online stores by systematically abusing its refund processes. And they have all the proof in screenshots.
Amazon’s Cybercrime attorney, Jaime Wendell, reported the lawsuit on Linkedin this week.
While the lawsuit names Chin Chopa’s Telegram channel, it focuses primarily on Amazon’s own customers who used the services and stole merchandise from Amazon through fraud and deceit.
Chin Chopa Brazenly Targeted Amazon
Their advertising perhaps best illustrates the brazenness of Chin Chopa’s operation.
On their Telegram channel, which boasted over 2,000 subscribers, they openly offered “instant refunds” with a 24-hour turnaround time for Amazon orders. They even claimed to have successfully refunded over 10,000 orders from Amazon.
The group has been very active since the beginning of 2023, posting over $1,260,464.18 in vouchers for Amazon refunds. The group promised its customers they could get fraudulent refunds within 7 days and would bill the clients between 20% and 30% of the refund proceeds..
The group would primarily rely on social engineering Amazon’s customer service by calling in, posing as the customers, and claiming they received an “empty box” instead of the merchandise they ordered.
Chin Chopa Got Stung By Undercover Investigator
While investigating the fraud, Amazon went undercover and communicated directly with Chin Chopa’s operators to divulge exactly how the fraud took place.
During those conversations, Amazon carefully took screenshots of those undercover communications to show how the scheme and payments were made.
In one revealing conversation, Chin Chopa even tells the investigator to “not bother with filling out the police request” because “Amazon always asks for that”.
The text messages will now be used in the court case to prove the fraud that Chin Chopa and Amazon customers engaged in.
Amazon Is Using The Napster Approach And Going After Customers
While Chin Chopa operates as a shadowy collective, Amazon’s legal action has spotlighted Amazon customers who participated in the scheme. The approach of going after service users is reminiscent of the early days of Napster when creators went after people who illegally downloaded and shared their music. The legal campaign was highly effective.
It’s also easier for Amazon to sue customers than the organizers of the refund groups because they have more evidence, and most of the customers live in the United States, making legal proceedings more cost-effective.
Amazon named eight customers who used Chin Chopa’s services to get fraudulent refunds – Justin Cook, a resident of Newnan, Georgia; Timothy Rodgers from Atlanta, Georgia; Sai Parvathareddy from Garner, North Carolina; Danielle Lantz from Menomonie, Wisconsin; Brandon Wong from Burnaby, British Columbia; Bharath Kumar Gandhe from Jonesboro, Arkansas; Berkcan Turkmenoglu from Brooklyn, New York, and Mike Ahlert from Lake City, Minnesota.
According to Amazon’s lawsuit, these individuals engaged Chin Chopa’s services to obtain fraudulent refunds and actively promoted the service online. By posting “vouches” – testimonials of successful refunds – they helped expand the reach of the criminal network and lure in more participants.
The case of Brandon Wong is particularly striking. Amazon alleges that Wong ordered two Apple 2023 MacBook Pro laptops and one 6th generation Apple iPad, totaling over 9,000 Canadian dollars. Working with Chin Chopa, Wong allegedly claimed he received an empty box, successfully obtaining a refund for these high-value items.
Amazon Strikes Back, Revealing It Spent $1.2 Billion Fighting Fraud
In the lawsuit, Amazon revealed some interesting stats on their counter-fraud team. It revealed that it spent $1.2 billion and employed over 15,000 people to fight theft, fraud, and abuse across its stores in 2022 alone.
The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington marks a significant escalation in Amazon’s fight against refund fraud. By targeting both Chin Chopa operators and individual users who have repeatedly engaged in their services, Amazon is aiming to dismantle the entire ecosystem that supports this type of fraud.
The legal action seeks monetary damages and injunctive relief that would bar the defendants from using Amazon’s services in the future. The company is clearly willing to use every tool to combat this threat.