Well. Not directly. But same outcome. No actual conspiracy or collusion necessary.

Amazon profits so much that they're content to eat the rampant fraud and waste, than to run a proper legit market place.

This is quite a jump to conclusions. The alternative theory of the customer service rep googling a phone number and getting the wrong one is far more likely. Or, it's possible that the company's own seller login was compromised and a scammer changed their contact number.

The idea that a wildly successful multi-billion dollar company would actually set up such an easily-noticed system where they "get a cut" of phishing scams is outlandish.

I don't think the "cut" implies they are in on some phishing scam. It's saying they take a cut of all volume, so even volume that's harmful to consumers is hardly worth Amazon's attention (as is evidenced by the obviously massive economy of systematic scamming that happens via Amazon, all of which, again, they get a cut of).

> The alternative theory of the customer service rep googling a phone number and getting the wrong one is far more likely.

Their support staff is that reckless and Amazon has no training and other systems in place to prevent that? Your theory doesn’t paint them in any better light.

it's far more believable than amazon being in cahoots with scammers. whether you think this is "better" or "worse" wasn't really part of the discussion

Haha no, when I picked it I had no idea of the connection. I just like Dr. Steve Brule (“Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” and “Check it Out! With Dr. Steve Brule”