That's amazing. It's clearly a scam and it's been going on for almost 1 year. This really hurts Amazon's credibility and can't be good for them in the long-term. It doesn't seem rational at all.
I don't know if perhaps there is some weird legal shenanigans going on, where Amazon are more able to get away with this in the US? Here in the UK, I've never come across such obvious deceit, or (knowingly!) ended up with a fake/counterfeit, across what must be at least hundreds of purchases, spanning 10+ years.
corrected
> This has no effect on Amazon's credibility and can't be good for the country in the long-term. Rationality has no effect on sales.
What’s the point of paying a membership fee for the privilege of sorting through garbage, scams and counterfeits yourself?