There are two parts to this, and the article seems to conflate them. First is there are a lot of poorly designed devices that lack current protection. In the eCig world one can point to the mechanical mods which are basically a battery directly attached to a coil, with nothing but a switch in between. Dangerous and stupid. There are some very good eCig devices that have excellent current and reverse-bias protection, but they cost more.

The other problem, and one that is more distinctly Amazon, is the proliferation of poorly-made budget 18650s as well as counterfeit re-wraps of junk 18650s sold as quality brands such as LG. Often these are low-drain devices that should only be used for things like flashlights, but are sold as if they are high-current-drain batteries. This is also driven by the demand for eCig batteries. The side effect of this is that these junk batteries end up being purchased for non-eCig devices.

The best advice is: Don't buy lithium batteries on Amazon. It is not worth the risk.