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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - An Amazon.com vendor from Hacienda Heights will plead guilty to bilking the online retailer out of more than $1.3 million by manipulating the company's payment system, federal prosecutors said today.
Ting Hong Yeung, 41, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal wire fraud charge on a date to be determined, according to his plea agreement filed Monday.
Federal prosecutors outlined an alleged scheme in which Yeung allegedly gamed the Amazon payment system, resulting in him receiving payment for merchandise he listed for sale but never actually shipped to buyers.
According to the Department of Justice, Amazon disburses payments to third-party merchandise sellers roughly every two weeks, after the sellers provide shipping numbers to prove that merchandise was actually shipped to customers.
Prosecutors claim Yeung would list expensive merchandise at low-ball prices to drive up sales. But instead of shipping purchased items to customers, Yeung would submit bogus tracking numbers to Amazon. When customers complained about not receiving purchases, Yeung would stall their refund requests long enough to ensure he received the customers' money from Amazon, according to the DOJ.
Prosecutors said that resulted in Yeung collecting payment for items that were never shipped, while Amazon would provide refunds to disgruntled customers.
According to prosecutors, Yeung in some cases would generate bogus shipping numbers to provide Amazon by sending customers cheap crystal ornaments, rather than the merchandise they actually ordered. He would also used Amazon's buyer-seller messaging service to falsely assure customers their orders were on the way, the DOJ alleges.
Yeung also allegedly purchased items through Amazon using credit cards in other people's names or using fake identities, then would request refunds claiming he received merchandise he didn't actually order, prosecutors said.
In his plea agreement, Yeung agreed to pay restitution, some of which will be paid with gold and silver bars investigators seized during a search of his residence last month.
Yeung is expected to make his initial appearance in Los Angeles federal court on April 12, prosecutors said.