Fired Amazon employee charged with issuing more than $96,000 in false refunds

A former Amazon employee fired by the company has been arrested and charged after he allegedly issued false refunds.

According to a criminal complaint filed in an Arizona district court, Vu Anh Nguyen used his access to Amazon's systems to issue more than $96,000 in refunds to himself and others.

The complaint said the activity took place between November 2019 and February 2020.

The Justice Department brought charges of federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft against Nguyen on Friday, Amazon said in a statement.

Amazon said Nguyen was reported to authorities in July after its systems identified the suspicious refunds and completed an investigation.

"There is no place for misconduct or fraud at Amazon," said the company in a statement. "We hold our employees to a high bar, have systems in place to proactively prevent fraud, continue to monitor activity, and will pursue all measures to protect our store and hold bad actors accountable."

Nguyen  worked for Amazon as a selling support associate based in Tempe, Arizona.

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Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.