These types of scammers have always existed on Amazon but its gotten unbelievably bad lately. Where you might find one of these scammers rarely, now they are now popping up all over Amazon.
Its a shame too, as I've gotten really great discounted items by taking chances on sellers that are new, and hobbyists selling import items from overseas, and I want to support legitimate sellers like this. However, I've also gotten a few scummy scam sellers as well--sellers proving fake tracking numbers and the product never arriving, wrong items sent or items that were just plain misrepresented. Amazon has been great about refunding my money, but it takes time to open up a a case and get my money back, which really sucks if you are shopping for gifts or time sensitive items.
The kicker for all of this? Almost all the items that I had problems were popular Nintendo items. Its gotten to the point where I don't want to buy ANYTHING Nintendo related off of Amazon anymore, because Amazon oversells, runs out of stock, and then cancels my order, and sellers that aren't Fulfillment by Amazon might be scams. And heck, even "Fulfillment by Amazon" doesn't mean much anymore--counterfeit items still find their way into Amazon Fulfillment stock.