According to corporate papers reviewed by Reveal and Wired, the fraudster known as Krasr paid out spies inside Amazon. It was to help him hack other vendors’ accounts and counterfeit their products.
According to a statement from Amazon’s security team, Krasr, the fraudster, recruited Amazon employees “over LinkedIn and Facebook”. They paid them a total of $160,000 over several years. When the fraud was out, the computer giant fired seven employees who had collaborated with the perpetrator.
In an emailed statement to Insider, Amazon spokesperson Jen Bemisderfer said the company has invested billions of dollars to build systems and processes to keep data secure. Also, adding that “the claims made in the Wired story are based on information that is outdated and out-of-context and have absolutely no bearing on Amazon’s current security posture.”
Krasr: Mohamed Multhazim Akbar Ali
According to the exposé, Krasr — CNBC disclosed his identity in 2017 as Mohamed Multhazim Akbar Ali. He is a 23-year-old Toronto native – He hijacked a popular skin-care seller Pure Daily Care in one operation.
Pure Daily Care lost $400,000. It had to lay off half of its employees after Krasr duplicated the seller’s top product. It filled its page with nasty reviews, according to CNBC at the time. Ali has not responded to several requests for comment from Wired.
Wired’s report includes internal memos that reveal the secret behind Krasr’s schemes. At Krasr’s direction, his Amazon moles disclosed consumer data and product information while barring and reinstating dealers, according to Wired.
Out of business overnight
Ali was able to clone best-selling products while also shutting the original vendors out of Amazon, forcing them to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. The moles even set up ransom schemes in which Krasr would contact accounts he had banned and offer to “help” them regain control of their profiles, according to the investigation.
“Cash flow is dead,” David Damavandi, the owner of Pure Daily Care told CNBC. “These guys are putting people out of business overnight.”
According to Wired, Amazon also notified the FBI about Krasr’s whereabouts and engaged a private investigator to “confirm his whereabouts.”
“Amazon referred Krasr to law enforcement in 2018 as we would do whenever we identify fraudulent activity affecting our customers. As soon as we became aware of this malicious activity, we removed the associated seller accounts and we will continue to enforce and remove seller accounts who have relations with Mohammed Multhazeem Akbar Ali, should any of these surface in the future,” Bemisderfer told Insider.
Amazon isn’t discovering moles for the first time within its ranks. According to the recent allegation, two Amazon employees in China were also implicated in bribes and the sale of personal data.