Lansing, MI – In a significant crackdown on organized retail crime, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that two Canton residents, Ali F. Habash and Ahmed Al-Bahia, have been charged with defrauding Amazon of more than $50,000. The charges were brought by the Attorney General’s FORCE Team, reflecting their ongoing efforts to tackle complex retail fraud schemes.
Details of the Charges
Ali F. Habash, 28, faces multiple charges, including six counts of False Pretenses: $1,000 or More but Less Than $20,000, one count of Uttering and Publishing, one count of Forgery, and one count of Continuing a Criminal Enterprise, a 20-year felony. Ahmed Al-Bahia, 22, is charged with one count of False Pretenses: $1,000 or More but Less Than $20,000. Both defendants were arraigned in the 35th District Court in Plymouth, Al-Bahia on July 24th and Habash on July 29th.
The Fraud Scheme
The Department of Attorney General was alerted to the scheme by Amazon’s internal investigations division in February. The investigation revealed that Habash allegedly controlled or was linked to 32 accounts engaged in retail fraud from 2020 to 2023. Habash is accused of placing orders for high-value items such as Apple laptops and gold coins, and then fraudulently requesting refunds while retaining the merchandise to resell for profit. The scheme involved obtaining return authorizations and then either sending back items of lesser value or failing to return any items at all.