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Aspiring model, friend held for ₹200 mn e-shopping fraud
After the arrest of an aspiring model and his friend, the police on Sunday claimed to have busted a gang involved in duping a popular online shopping portal of ₹200
After the arrest of an aspiring model and his friend, the police on Sunday claimed to have busted a gang involved in duping a popular online shopping portal of ₹200 million.
The accused used to order expensive products from the e-tailer. They later returned the same, raising quality issues, after changing the original product with substandard ones, said police.
Cops said the gang was mainly operating from Jaipur but its members were spread across different states.
SSP (Lucknow) Kalanidhi Naithani said those arrested were identified as two Jaipur residents – Sohit Soni, 26 and Rahul Singh Rathore, 24, who were living in a rented accommodation in Lucknow for the past few months.
Soni, an engineering graduate, was trying his luck in modelling. He even participated in a modelling show on a TV channel that was slated to be aired in February 2020. The other accused also had a technical background. He pursued a course in electronics from an Industrial Technical Institute, said Naithani.
The gang members used to keep changing their locations to commit fraud. They booked expensive products from online shopping portals and got them delivered at their rented accommodations in different cities. Later, they used to return the products, citing quality issues after changing the original products with substandard ones, he added.
“The gang members used duplicate stickers of different products to pack the substandard products in the original products’ containers and boxes. They packaged the products so well that the delivery men failed to detect the anomaly,” explained the SSP.
He said the gang has committed similar frauds from different locations from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and other states.
“As per an estimate, the gang committed a fraud worth ₹200 million in the past three years,” he said.
Naithani said the online shopping portal’s authorities approached the police to inform about the fraud and sought help.
A police team led by sub-inspector Rahul Rathore of the Cyber Crime Cell was deployed to trace the fraudsters after registering an FIR against unidentified people with Gautampalli police station.
The FIR was lodged under IPC sections 406 (for criminal breach of trust), 420 (for cheating), 467 (for forging documents), 468 (using forged documents to commit fraud) and 471 (using forged documents as genuine one).
The youths were arrested from their rented house in Samar Vihar colony under Alambagh police station limits, said police.
MODUS OPERANDI
The accused used to order expensive products from the e-tailer. They later returned the same, raising quality issues, after changing the original product with substandard ones, said police.
Those arrested were identified as two Jaipur residents – Sohit Soni, 26 and Rahul Singh Rathore, 24, who were living in a rented accommodation in Lucknow for the past few months, said the SSP.
