It was a solid-gold scam with an iron bar ending.
A third-party seller on Amazon.com has pleaded guilty to running an elaborate refund scam that ripped the online retail platform off to the tune of $1.3 million, which he then used to buy gold and silver bars.
Ting Hong Yeung, 41, of Hacienda Heights, Calif., admitted he had created multiple seller accounts on Amazon
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and had run the scam, in which he would offer high ticket items but never ship them, dating back to 2013.
Prosecutors said Yeung had figured out a way to game Amazon’s system for paying third-party vendors to make sure the cash from phony sales would land in his accounts before an angry buyer would request a refund.
Yeung faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in April. Prosecutors say he has agreed to pay restitution, partly out of the stacks of gold and silver bars that were seized from his home when he was arrested.
A message sent to Yeung’s attorney wasn’t immediately returned.
The ol’ bait and switch
According to court documents, Yeung would create the seller accounts and run them normally for a time so they would eventually be cleared to sell more expensive products. He would then offer high-cost furniture and home-decor items for prices lower than other sellers on the site.
When a buyer ordered the item, the money would be held in Yeung’s Amazon seller account for up to two weeks. He would then enter a…
