Indore (Madhya Pradesh): In a major cyber fraud case involving online shopping, police have busted a gang that allegedly cheated an e-commerce company of around Rs14 lakh by replacing original products with fake ones, officials said on Friday. The mastermind of the gang, Ritik Gupta, has been arrested in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
DCP (Zone-4) Anand Kaladagi said the case came to light after a complaint was filed by the liaison officer of Amazon's delivery partner. The complainant stated that delivery boys Deepak Moher and Praveen Singh, along with other associates, were involved in the fraud. They used to order expensive Apple products like iPods and pencils from Amazon.
During delivery, the suspects allegedly removed the original products and replaced them with duplicate items. They would then mark the order as rejected and return the fake product to the company, resulting in significant financial losses.
Police registered a case and started an investigation. Moher was first arrested, and during questioning, he allegedly revealed Gupta's involvement. The suspects had planned the fraud by purchasing duplicate Apple products from Delhi. They also used virtual phone numbers to create fake profiles on the Amazon app and placed orders using fake addresses in Indore.
After receiving the original products, they were sent by bus to Jaipur, where Gupta sold them in Delhi s Karol Bagh market for illegal profit.
Based on technical evidence, police tracked and arrested Gupta from Jaipur. He has been presented in court and is currently under police remand. Police believe that more such fraud cases may be uncovered during further investigation.
The arrested suspects include Moher, a resident of Indore, and Gupta, a resident of Jaipur. The action was carried out by the Chandan Nagar police station in-charge Tilak Karole and his team under the guidance of senior officers.
Manipulating e-commerce return policy
Procuring Fakes: The suspects first purchased high-quality duplicate Apple products, including iPods and Apple Pencils, from markets in Delhi.
Digital Deception: Using virtual phone numbers, they created multiple fake profiles on the Amazon shopping app to mask their identities.
Targeted Ordering: They placed orders for genuine, expensive Apple devices using these fake profiles and provided various addresses across Indore for delivery.
The Switch: The gang involved delivery personnel, including Deepak Moher and Praveen Singh. During the delivery process, the original products were removed from the packaging and replaced with the pre-purchased duplicates.
System Manipulation: Once the swap was complete, the delivery boys marked the orders as "rejected" or "returned" in the company s system.
Reverse Logistics: The fake products were sent back to Amazon s warehouse, while the genuine items were smuggled via bus to Jaipur.
Liquidation: Gupta then transported the stolen original products to Delhi s Karol Bagh market, where they were sold for an illegal profit.
