Four Brothers Accused Of $19 Mln Amazon's Vendor System Scam

(RTTNews) - Four Rockland brothers were charged with $19 million fraudulent invoicing scheme targeting Amazon's vendor system.

Federal law enforcement agencies have arrested Yoel Abraham, Heshl Abraham, Zishe Abraham and Shmuel Abraham.

Amazon said it has supported the lengthy investigation. It looks forward to working with law enforcement agencies to hold those bad actors accountable for their illegal activities.

The U.S. Department of Justice alleged that the four brothers engaged in a scheme to systematically defraud Amazon.com, LLC. Through the course of the scheme, they manipulated Amazon's vendor system in attempts to fraudulently induce Amazon to pay for goods that Amazon had not ordered.

The four brothers fraudulently attempted to obtain at least about $32 million and successfully obtained at least about $19 million, by the executing the scheme.

The four brothers frequently shipped and invoiced for more than 10,000 units of an item when Amazon had requested, and the defendants had agreed to ship, fewer than 100.

Once Amazon detected the pattern of fraudulent overshipping, it suspended the vendor accounts engaged in the fraud. In response, the four persons tried to open other vendor accounts and disguise their identities by registering them in fake names, using different email addresses, and using virtual private servers to obfuscate their connection to previously suspended accounts and frustrate Amazon's ability to detect and mitigate their fraudulent activity, the Justice Depart said.

Wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and money laundering carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.