Amazon fails to remove fake 'Laptop From Hell' book from website

On Friday, New York Post columnist and author of Laptop From Hell Miranda Devine revealed that a counterfeit version of her best-selling book is for sale on Amazon, and the online commerce has yet to remove it despite repeated urging from her publisher for the book to be removed.

"Shocking @amazon that you won't remove this counterfeit of my book #LaptopFromHell. This defrauds customers - incl. a 91-yr-old - who are writing to me in disappointment having paid for a fake book which is #9 paperback bestseller. Publisher sent legal letter, no action 3 days," wrote Devine on Twitter.

When searching on Amazon, the false book appears first in search results. Both books are categorized as being "best sellers" on the website. The counterfeit post features a roughly re-worded description, with numerous grammatical errors.

"The inside story of the laptop that exposed the president's dirtiest secret," reads the official description title, while the fake reads: "Within story of the PC that uncovered the president's dirtiest mystery."

"When a drug-addled Hunter Biden abandoned his waterlogged computer at a Mac repair shop in Delaware in the spring of 2019, just six days before his father announced his candidacy for the United States presidency, it became the ticking time bomb in the shadows of Joe Biden's campaign," the real book's description begins.

"At the point when a medication baffled Hunter Biden deserted his waterlogged PC at a Mac mechanics shop in Delaware in the spring of 2019, only six days before his dad declared his bid for the United States administration, it turned into the ticking delayed bomb in the shadows of Joe Biden's mission," the false book's description begins.

The counterfeit book features a distorted version of the real cover, with the color changed to have a purple hue. It also features a misspelling of Devine's name: Devan.

It also states that it was released one day before the official version, contained 124 pages, compared to 224 in the real version, and is "independently published," as opposed to being published through the Post Hill Press.

"I am astounded that Amazon has not moved immediately to pull down this fraudulent page. What are they waiting for? It is quite obviously counterfeit. My name is incorrectly and there are grammatical errors and nonsense language all over the counterfeit posting," Devine told The Post Millennial.

"But the fraudsters have sold enough paperbacks to reach number 9 on Amazon's paperback listing and readers have told me the counterfeit popped up on a google search," she continued.

Devine said that she was contacted by "disappointed readers" including the daughter of a 91-year-old California man who bought the counterfeit book, saying that he was "upset to receive a counterfeit paperback with garbage content."

"I am told Amazon refunds the money but why are they allowing their customers to be ripped off at all?" Devine questioned. "My publisher has called Amazon and sent a legal letter but this page has been up since November 29, the day before my book launched, and it is still there four days later. I feel terrible because readers have  placed their trust in me to  provide value for their hard-earned money and they have been betrayed by Amazon."

Devine broke the Hunter Biden laptop story in October of last year, revealing emails from the abandoned laptop that pointed to his father, then Presidential nominee Joe Biden, knew about his son's dealing with Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and even met with one of the company's most senior operatives at his son's instruction.

Stories like that one relating to Hunter Biden's laptop were censored by big tech platforms, with Twitter locking The New York Post's account for using "hacked materials," and Facebook limiting the spread of the story on its platform as well as making it eligible for third-party fact-checking partners.