An unknown person defrauded e-commerce giant Amazon India by returning two knock-off mobile phones in place of original ones.
Though Koothattukulam police have registered a case based on a complaint filed by the company, they are yet to identify the person behind the deception. Officers said the fraudster collected the phones using the Visat Engineering College address.
According to reports, the fraudster managed to secure refunds totalling Rs 2.2 lakh for the two Samsung Ultra phones.
“On January 17, the person placed orders for two Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultras, each costing around Rs 1.10 lakh. The very next day, he placed a return order, citing technical glitches. He also returned the second phone that the company provided, after raising similar issues. But in both cases, he returned cheaper duplicate phones available in the market. He swindled the company out of nearly Rs 2.2 lakh,” said an officer with Koothattukulam station.
To the surprise of cops and the company, the accused handed over counterfeits that had the same IMEI numbers as the originals.
“Since the delivery partners only inspected the IMEI numbers, they couldn’t find any issues with the phones. But the issue came to light when the technical team inspected the phones received from the accused. Following this, Amazon registered a complaint with local police,” said a source with Amazon.
The police have initiated an investigation. “The mobile number that was mentioned in the order was switched off. We are also yet to receive the fake mobile phones from the company. However, we have started a probe,” said an officer.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that as many as seven similar cheating cases were reported in different parts of the state. “Swapping of original products is not just happening with mobile phones. If we send 100 products to a customer, nearly five people will return fake products. Recently, we filed around 10 such complaints with Amazon. It seems the number of such cases is increasing by the day,” said Ambika, the owner of Shruthi Traders Panchaloham, a vendor with Amazon.