A delivery boy allegedly cheated e-commerce major Amazon to the tune of Rs 74,000 by ordering products through multiple fake accounts and returning them after putting in fake items. Being the delivery boy, he would himself pick up the returned items and let the fake products pass.
Konanakunte police booked Kumar R under IPC sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) and under the Information Technology Act following a complaint by Tarun Verma, a legal consultant for Amazon Transportation Services Pvt Ltd. He has not been arrested yet.
According to Verma’s complaint, Kumar worked as a delivery associate for Amazon Transportation Services Pvt Ltd, whose offices are located in Kanakapura Road.
Kumar allegedly opened multiple Amazon accounts in different names and phone numbers. He also linked different bank accounts. He would order products but return them almost always the next day.
Being a delivery associate, he would volunteer to pick up the returned item. He would then replace the original product with a fake one and return it. The company had no option but to process the refund.
The first hint of the fraud came after a man named Vasanth Kumar ordered the wireless headphones of a reputable brand to be delivered to one Divikumariyamma in Chennai on November 4, 2019. The person asked for a return the next day. Kumar, who was in charge of the delivery station, assigned himself for the job and picked up the product from Banashankari 2nd Stage. He replaced the original product with a fake one and returned it to the delivery station.
The company became suspicious and started checking all the returned products that Kumar had picked up. An enquiry revealed that he had booked products in the name of his friends and relatives. The company says it lost Rs 73,920 to the fraud and has sought action against him.
An officer from Konanakunte police said notices had been issued to the company as well as Kumar, seeking all the technical evidence such as the details of orders booked in different names.