Two arrested for cheating e-tailers in Indore

Two persons, suspected to be members of an inter-state gang, were arrested today for allegedly cheating e-commerce companies to the tune of several lakhs by purchasing SIM cards already linked to Aadhaar cards of people and ordering goods on fake addresses, police said. Police recovered a large number of SIM cards, some mobile phones and various products ordered through e-tailers from the possession of Prince Kumar Singh (19) and Vikas Singh Parihar (22), said Indore cyber crime unit SP Jitendra Singh.

He said the accused used to sell these goods on OLX. "The accused used to purchase mobile SIM cards, already linked with Aadhaar cards of other people, from Odisha and Rajasthan," Singh said. He said some shopkeepers were also involved in cheating unsuspected people who would approach them for buying new SIM cards.

"These shopkeepers used to capture finger prints of customers on biometric machines in name of activating SIM cards. Once they get the finger prints, which are already linked to Aadhaar cards, the shopkeepers would activate many SIM cards in name of unsuspecting people and sell them to the gang," the officer said.

The accused used to buy an active SIM card for just Rs 100-200, he said, adding that some groups are being operated on Whatsapp for the purpose of trading such SIM cards only. Singh said after securing the SIM cards, the accused created accounts on Amazon and Paytm mobile wallet using fake
addresses. "Through these accounts the accused used to purchase costly goods from the e-tailers," he said.

They used to mislead personnel who would come to deliver at fake addresses by taking possession of goods at some different location by misleading them. "After getting goods, the accused would inform the e-commerce company concerned that they have not received the ordered products, claiming it might have been delivered to someone else. Through this way, they would get their cash back. Later, they sold these products through online platforms
like OLX," the officer said.