These Social media posts offering E-commerce products at discounted prices are fraudulent - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 6, 2023
A post is being shared on social media claiming that the e-commerce site Amazon is selling their unclaimed packages for $19.99 to customers. The post shared a URL to a website and asked the users to click on the link to purchase the unclaimed or undelivered packages from Amazon. Similar posts have been circulating on social media at least since 2021. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: The purported website of Amazon that is selling unclaimed packages of Amazon for $19.99.
Fact: The URL directs to a suspicious website, ‘inventoryretailstore.com’, whose registrar has a high percentage of spammers and fraud sites. The owner of the website uses Privacy Guardian and other services to hide his/her identity. A spokesperson of Amazon confirmed that Amazon sells that cannot be re-sold to third-party buyers. These third-party buyers will subsequently sell the liquidated products to their own customers. However, the website link shared in the post is not connected or associated with the Amazon site in any way. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On clicking the URL provided in the post, the link directs you to the website ‘inventoryretailstore.com’. Only a limited number of products of carved sculptures and decoration lights are available for sale on this site.
On searching for further details of this website on the ‘Whois’ site, we found that the website had been registered just one month prior, in August 2023. The owner of the website uses Privacy Guardian and other services to hide his/her identity. The Scam Adviser site informed ‘inventoryretailstore.com’ as a suspicious website. As per the analysis of Scam Adviser, the registrar of the website has a high percentage of spammers and fraud sites.
Typically, all undeliverable packages or unclaimed packages will be returned to the Amazon Fulfillment Centers, or to the warehouses of sellers who choose the self-ship option. If a product is returned or cannot be shipped to the customer’s designated address, the customer will receive a refund, and the returned products are placed back into inventory for resale to other customers. If the seller chooses the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) option, Amazon will completely manage the return and resale of the products.
Speaking about these viral posts to ‘Lead Stories’, an Amazon spokesperson said, “At Amazon, the majority of returns are resold as ‘new or ‘used,’ returned to suppliers and sellers or donated. In some instances, we sell returns that cannot be resold to third-party buyers who sell the liquidated product to their own customers.”
Amazon sells its bulk pallets of unopened overstock products on its website. Customers are instructed to send an email to ‘bulk-liquidations-beta@amazon.com’ to inquire about purchasing these overstock products. Websites like ‘Liquidation.com’ also sell the bulk overstock products of Amazon. However, the website link provided in the post is fraudulent and is in no way associated with Amazon.
Earlier, FACTLY debunked similar claims about contests offering gifts from Amazon, Flipkart, Rolex, and other websites. Those articles can be seen here, here, and here.
To sum it up, this purported website of Amazon offering unclaimed packages at discounted prices is a fraudulent one.