(Getty Images/Stephane Cardinale)
E-Commerce giant Amazon says it has “zero tolerance” for coronavirus-based price gouging and scams – and has already deleted more than a half a million offers for violations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amazon has also suspended the accounts of nearly four thousand vendors in order “to protect customers from bad actors” trying to exploit the coronavirus pandemic, Amazon reports on its blog website:
“Amazon has already removed well over half a million of offers from our stores due to coronavirus-based price gouging. We have suspended more than 3,900 selling accounts in our U.S. store alone for violating our fair pricing policies. We began taking these enforcement actions promptly upon discovering this kind of misconduct, and we’ve been partnering directly with law enforcement agencies to combat price gougers and hold them accountable.
“We are constantly monitoring our stores for unfair prices and listings that make false claims in regards to COVID-19.”
Amazon says it has dedicated staff to ferret out and investigate unfairly priced products and scams regarding high-demand, coronavirus products like protective masks and hand sanitizer – and report them to law enforcement agencies for prosecution under relevant laws.
The company is also partnering with several state attorneys general offices to share information about sellers it suspects “have engaged in egregious price gouging of products related to the COVID-19 crisis.”
