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Experts are warning that third party sellers are taking advantage of Amazon’s search ranking system for products to scam innocent consumers. “Brushing” is a scam carried out by Amazon sellers to artificially inflate their sales and positive reviews, with many involved being from China. The system used by Amazon favours items with a high volume of sales and good reviews from consumers.
When scaled up, the consumer watchdog estimates that over 1million people across the country are likely to have been victims of these “brushing” scams.
Of the people who received a mystery parcel, 63 percent admitted to keeping them, while 28 percent binned them and 16 percent gave them away.
Examples of the type of products often sent to Amazon customers include: toys for pets and children, Bluetooth accessories and iPhone cases.
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All of these products are cheap to ship in large quantities so are therefore prime material to be used by fraudsters.
Victims of these scams are at risk of buying products which are not as good as they appear on the Amazon marketplace.
Despite the apparent rise in this scam being carried out, Amazon has confirmed it is aware it is taking place and says sellers are prohibited from taking part in “brushing”.
Furthermore, the online retail giant advises customers to contact Amazon “immediately” if they suspect the scam is taking place.
However, Rocio Concha, Which?’s Director of Policy and Advocacy, believes more can be done to target the criminals committing these crimes.
Ms Concha explained: “Consumers should be able to trust that the popularity and reviews of products they are buying online are genuine.
“So it is troubling that third-party sellers appear to be using brushing scams to game Amazon Marketplace.
“Amazon needs to do more to thoroughly investigate instances of brushing scams and take strong action against sellers that are attempting to mislead consumers.
“Our #JustNotBuyingIt campaign is also demanding that strong new laws are introduced by the government to force tech giants to protect people online.”
Which?’s campaign aims to make tech companies act faster to stop scams, such as “brushing”, becoming common practice.
On its website, the consumer watchdog states: “Tech companies aren’t doing enough to protect us online from scams, dangerous products and fake reviews and we’re #JustNotBuyingIt.
“We’re demanding strong new laws be introduced by the government to make tech giants protect you online. Sign the petition: make tech giants take more responsibility.”
Currently, the petition has over 80,000 signatures.