Amazon grew suspicious of Gupta’s purchasing habits and that is when they found out that these items were not actually returned.
Amazon grew suspicious of Gupta’s purchasing habits and that is when they found out that these items were not actually returned.A 22-year-old Bengaluru boy has been arrested for swindling over 20 lakh from Amazon in a refund scam. The police have arrested Chirag Gupta, an engineering student staying in North Bengaluru regarding the scam. Gupta was a part of the scam which was being run by an ex-Amazon employee where they faked the return of expensive gadgets like iPhones and MacBooks and even managed to get the refund.
Amazon refund scam
It was reported by The Indian Express that Gupta faked returns of 16 iPhones and 2 Macbooks with the help of a friend where he would manipulate the backend system to show that the item has been returned. Since the system was updated, the buyer (Chirag Gupta) would get the required refund for all the items without any suspicion.
These items included iPhone 14 Pro Max worth Rs 1.27 lakh purchased on May 15, iPhone 14 worth Rs 84,999 bought on May 16 and two iPhone 14 models worth Rs 90,999 and Rs 84,999 bought on May 17. The payment of these iPhones was done using credit card and UPI transactions. The accused had already scammed Amazon of Rs 3.4 lakh with these items.
Amazon grew suspicious of Gupta’s purchasing habits and that is when they found out that these items were not actually returned. Notably, these items were bought from the same address and were marked as “returned”, however, they never made it to inventory. That is when an executive was sent to visit Gupta and enquire why he returned all those devices. Gupta informed that the devices were working fine but a friend of his from Madhya Pradesh had told him that he had a way to get the refunds for the item without actually having to return them.
Police reportedly seized gadgets worth Rs 20.34 lakh from Gupta and froze Rs 30 lakh in multiple bank accounts linked to the accused.
Notably, the main accused in this scam is the former Amazon employee who manipulated the backend of the system. It was revealed that Gupta and his friend were selling these items via crypto transactions. Gupta would receive commission from profits earned on each item.
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