An M-Tech engineer and a call center employee are among five suspects arrested by the Manpada police for allegedly cheating e-commerce retailers Amazon and Flipkart to the tune of Rs 5,85,136. The accused duped the e-commerce retailers by placing orders for electronic gadgets using bogus Aadhar and Sim Cards and later returning the parcels that were filled with sand and old clothes instead of the actual products.
Acting on a tip-off, Manpada police officials arrested Dombivali residents Robin Anthony Aruja, 28, and Alok Gullu Yadav, 20, along with Kiran Amrit Bansode, 26, Rocky Dineshkumar Karan, 22 and Navinsingh Rajkumar Singh, 22, who are from Kalyan.
Deputy commissioner of police Sachin Gunjal said, “The accused are related to each other. The main accused Robin Aruja who is an M-Tech engineer is the mastermind. They would download the image of an Aadhar card of some unknown person and use a photo editor to superimpose their own photo on it. They would then buy a Sim Card and would use this to place orders.” The Sim Card seller is also an accused in the case.
According to Gunjal, when the product was delivered, Robin would receive the item while his associates kept the delivery boy engaged. Meanwhile, Robin would remove the seal carefully, take out the item and replace it with an equivalent weight of sand and old clothes before re-sealing the box. He would then return the parcel saying he didn't have the money to pay and would order it again later. “The stolen items would then be sold in the market at cheaper rates,” Gunjal said.
The accused stole 22 mobile phones, 1 laptop, 1 I-Pod and 1 tablet computer, amounting to Rs 5,85,136. “We also recovered 20 Sim Cards and 29 Aadhar cards from them. They have confessed to such crimes committed in Gujarat, Kolkata and Maharashtra (Pune, Mumbai, Satara, Thane and Alibaug,” he said.
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