According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is undertaking an investigation into claims that its employees have accepted bribes to provide sensitive information, as well as to delete negative feedback, and to re-open accounts which Amazon had closed. The practice is understood to be a particular problem in China where it is suggested that brokers were using WeChat to connect independent sellers with individuals on Amazon’s staff. Almost half of all items sold via the Amazon platform are provided by third party sellers, a growing number of which are based in China.
Amazon is on record as saying that it had zero tolerance for abuse of its systems and that was conducting a thorough investigation. A spokesperson said: “We hold our employees to a high ethical standard and anyone in violation of our Code faces discipline, including termination and potential legal and criminal penalties.” Adding that the company would be taking swift action against sellers who were involved and as a result they stood to have their selling accounts terminated, funds with-held and face legal proceedings.”
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