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Three WFH employees scam e-commerce giant of ₹80 lakhs
The e-commerce company had outsourced product delivery operations to a third-party service that handled voice support, back-office operations, and customer service.
Three employees working remotely in the customer care department of an e-commerce giant have been accused of defrauding the company of goods worth approximately ₹80 lakhs over a period of two and a half months.
The accused—Rahul Jonwal (Ajmer), Sheikh Abdul Khader Jilani (Andhra Pradesh), and Tasrun Nazreen (South 24 Parganas, West Bengal)—collaborated with several Lucknow-based customers to manipulate the company’s software and carry out the scam. An FIR was filed on Tuesday at Vibhuti Khand cyber crime police station following a complaint from the company’s manager.
The employees had the responsibility of managing customer order information. They exploited their access by manipulating the company’s software to cancel orders after the products had already been delivered, allowing customers to receive the goods and get refunds. Despite the cancellations, the products were delivered to the customers, and the payments were refunded to their accounts.
Gomti Nagar cyber police station SHO Brijesh Yadav confirmed that the three employees are being investigated. The e-commerce company had outsourced product delivery operations to a third-party service that handled voice support, back-office operations, and customer service.
The fraud unfolded when the accused, after receiving orders, would request cancellations just before delivery, marking products as ‘Return to Origin’ (RTO). This manipulation ensured that products were delivered while the system processed cancellations and refunds, enabling simultaneous delivery and refund transactions.
“The cancellations were only visible to the customers involved in the scam. Once the delivery was completed, they would immediately notify the help desk to process the cancellation. By the time the delivery boy received the cancellation notification, the product had already been delivered,” SHO Yadav explained.
Investigations are ongoing, and efforts are underway to apprehend the suspects, said the SHO.
