Senior citizen exposes online delivery scam after receiving fake COD parcel in Bengaluru: Report

A 78-year-old man from Bengaluru received a fraudulent COD parcel, leading to a police investigation into a widespread scam exploiting personal data.

A 78-year-old resident of Bengaluru's JP Nagar area has approached the Cyber Crime Police after receiving a fraudulent parcel allegedly dispatched by a Delhi-based company that has been tricking people across India through fake Cash on Delivery (COD) shipments.

Upon searching online, the elderly man from Bengaluru discovered many others had also been duped into paying for counterfeit goods. (Image credit: Anoop Shetty/Twitter)

The incident took place on October 11, when the man received a package addressed to his daughter from a well-known courier service. Inside was a 90-gram Korean peel-off face mask priced at ₹699. When he checked with his daughter, she confirmed that she had not ordered any such item, said a report by The Hindu.

Sensing something suspicious, the senior citizen visited the courier company’s Puttenahalli branch, where he learned that the parcel had been sent from a firm based in Delhi. Upon searching online, he found several complaints from other victims across the country who had fallen prey to a similar COD delivery scam.

According to police sources, the scam appears to involve companies harvesting personal data and addresses from social media platforms and using them to send unsolicited parcels. The goal, officers say, is to trick recipients into paying small amounts of money for worthless or counterfeit products.

While many people refuse to accept these parcels, some pay the amount out of curiosity and that’s how the fraud continues, a senior officer explained. Because the loss is often small, most victims don’t bother filing complaints, allowing such scams to persist, he added.