This engineering student cheated Amazon of Rs 20 lakh with fake invoices

Chirag Gupta, 22, an engineering student who ordered Apple iPhones and other electronic products on Amazon and chose the "return product" option but never returned them to the e-commerce platform after getting a refund for the return, has been arrested, The Times of India (ToI) has reported.

The accused operated with 12 of his friends, all of whom were acting on the directions of a few fraudsters about whom the police has some leads, the newspaper reported. Chirag Gupta is from Indore, Madhya Pradesh and is a student at a reputed college near Yeshwantpur, Banglore. All the 12 accomplices of Chirag are also engineering students and have been served notices to appear before the police, the ToI report added.

 

DCP (north) Shivaprakash Devaraju said that the police had received a complaint from Amazon representatives in May. The complaint accused miscreants of cheating the company by getting refunds for the products without actually returning them.

Chirag Gupta booked four iPhones on Amazon between May 15 and May 17 and made online payments. Later, when Chirag decided to return the products, he was issued a refund of more than Rs 3.7 lakh. However, on inspection, Amazon staff found that the products were not returned to our warehouse.

Chirag, along with his group, also ensured that the Amazon website reflected that the products had been returned, Zonal Manager of Amazon, Paramesh HD, said in his complaint to Yeshwantpur police station, the report added.

Police suspect the involvement of insiders

We have asked Amazon representatives to share the details of employees handling the website and related issues. We feel the cheating would not have been possible without an insider role, Devaraju said.

Devaraju said that Chirag and his friends were operating according to instructions from the prime suspects. Devaraju added that the students were aware of the fact that they were duping Amazon. Besides, the prime suspects and the students had an agreement to give students a 15-20 per cent commission for cheating.

The police have seized 16 Apple iPhones, two MacBook laptops, one mobile phone, one desktop with hard disk and one air cooler. All the items were ordered from Amazon and marked for return. The products are worth more than Rs 20 lakh, the ToI report said.