“Face masks and hand sanitizers are the number one and number two most searched terms on Amazon. That's attracting many sellers who are pulling every trick they can think of to get into search results,” says Juozas Kaziukėnas, founder of the ecommerce data firm Marketplace Pulse, who first alerted WIRED to the face mask listings.
"Bad actors that attempt to abuse our systems make up a tiny fraction of activity on our site," a spokesperson for Amazon said in a statement. "We use sophisticated tools, including machine learning, to combat them, and we are making it increasingly difficult for bad actors to hide. These bad actors show a flagrant disregard for our community, our policies, and in some cases, the law, and do not reflect the flourishing community of honest entrepreneurs that make up the vast majority of our sellers."
Read all of our coronavirus coverage here .
Like many online platforms, Amazon relies on a mix of automated tools and human moderation to enforce its policies. It’s not clear how the face masks that appeared in the Movers & Shakers rankings slipped through, but it may be because both appear to have been swapped into older listings for legitimate products. So-called “review hijacking” is a common form of fraud on Amazon. Here's how it works: Sellers take an old listing for a different product with good reviews, and swap the picture and description for the new item. Positive reviews help determine whether products will appear higher in search results. The hope is that people won’t bother reading individual reviews before making a purchase.
The third-party seller who listed face masks as a book, for example, appears to have done so by taking over the listing for a real book called Rain of Gold by Victor Villaseñor. Many of the face mask’s five-star reviews were years old. While some appeared to be fake, others mentioned Villaseñor’s book. “If you are intrigued by the history of Mexico you will like this book,” one reviewer wrote back in 2014.
Do you have a tip about Amazon? Using a secure device, email the writer at [email protected] . Signal: 347-966-3806. WIRED protects the confidentiality of its sources.
“Amazon has to step up their game,” Kaziukėnas says, “because consumers have no idea about the underlying mechanics of the marketplace chaos.”
The coronavirus pandemic could be one of the most pivotal moments for Amazon yet in the company’s 25-year history. With many people confined to their homes, orders are spiking, and Amazon has run out of essential items like toilet paper. To cope, the company announced earlier this week that it’s currently only accepting items like household staples, medical supplies, and groceries at its warehouses. It’s also hiring 100,000 additional workers and giving existing staff temporary raises.
As the outbreak continues to spread in the US—The Atlantic reported the first confirmed Covid-19 case in an Amazon warehouse Wednesday—pressure on the company to make the right decisions for its customers and its labor force will only grow.
Updated, 3-19-20, 6:15 pm ET: This story has been updated with comment from Amazon.
WIRED is providing unlimited free access to stories about the coronavirus pandemic . Sign up for our Coronavirus Update to get the latest in your inbox.More From WIRED on Covid-19
- Gear and tips to help you get through a pandemic
- Everything you need to know about coronavirus testing
- How long does the coronavirus last on surfaces ?
- Don’t go down a coronavirus anxiety spiral
- What's social distancing? (And other Covid-19 FAQs, answered)
- Read all of our coronavirus coverage here