Man tricked Amazon 166 times by ordering phones, gets refunds each time
A 21-year-old man in Delhi had ordered 166 mobile phones from Amazon between April and May and has claimed refunds each time amounting to Rs 50 lakh, saying he received an empty box. Police have arrested the two men plotting the plan, Shivam Chopra (21) and his accomplice Sachin Jain (38), who had provided about 140 SIM cards to the former to place orders on the e-commerce portal. Shivam used to sell these phones on other e-commerce platforms or at the Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh, police said. A complaint was received in June from a man on behalf of Amazon Seller Services Private Limited that 166 orders for mobile phones were placed between April and May, which were paid through gift cards, but refunds were claimed alleging that the boxes were empty, they said. He would give a false addresses in the locality where he actually resided and as such the delivery associate would call him over phone for directions, the police said. The accused would ask the delivery person to meet him at any shop or any other place in the locality and take the delivery. He would then call up the customer care of Amazon India and allege that the box was empty. Subsequently refunds were initiated, they said. During interrogation, Shivam revealed that for placing the orders, he purchased around 150 pre-activated SIM cards from Sachin, who runs a store in the neighborhood, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Milind Dumbere said. During investigation, police seized 19 mobile phones, Rs 12 lakh in cash, 40 bank passbooks and cheques from Shivam's house. In a statement, an Amazon India spokesperson said, "We continue to work closely with the Delhi Police and thank them for all their efforts in the investigation. -PTC News
