Pensioner tries to return Amazon order, loses ₹1.04 lakh
The complainant, Madhukar Sankhe, had on August 9, ordered a pair of sports shoes on Amazon by paying an amount of ₹1,150 through his credit card and received it on Monday
Mumbai A 67-year-old retired sales tax officer was duped of ₹1.04 lakh after he posted a return request on Amazon for a package he had ordered. This is the second case in the past two weeks where frauds have targeted Amazon customers.
The complainant, Madhukar Sankhe, had on August 9, ordered a pair of sports shoes on Amazon by paying an amount of ₹1,150 through his credit card and received it on Monday.
“The package contained shorts in place of the shoes. Immediately, I logged onto the app and ordered a return and refund,” said Sankhe.
At 7.30pm on Monday, Sankhe received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as an executive from Amazon and told him that they have received his refund request. The ‘executive’ then sent a message on his number with a link of an app and told him to download the link and fill in the details like credit card number etc. so as to enable him initiate the refund. “He also told me that my parcel would be replaced once it is picked up the same day,” said Sankhe.
After the pensioner downloaded the app and filled the form with his details, within five minutes, he received an SMS which said ₹50,000 had been debited from his account. When he questioned the executive about the debit, he told him to ignore that message, as it was meant to be sent to someone else.
As Sankhe waited for the refund, he again got a message which said another ₹50,000 was debited from his account. Realising that he was duped, Sankhe called up his bank and blocked the account.
On Tuesday, the 67-year-old approached the Borivali police and registered a case against the unidentified caller under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and section 66 (d) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
“We are trying to trace the caller. However, we cannot rule out involvement of some insider from Amazon passing on information about the order history and other details,” said a police officer from Borivali police station.
On August 7, 41-year-old advocate from Malwani in Malad was duped of ₹1.57 lakh after apparent Amazon executives asked her to update her address in Amazon for delivery of a washing machine.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Amazon said, “Amazon impersonation scams put our customers at risk, and while these happen outside our marketplace, we are committed to protecting their interests. We encourage customers to report any suspicious phone calls, emails or links to Amazon as well as the law enforcement agencies in order to hold scammers accountable. Amazon has zero-tolerance for abuse of our system and follows a robust mechanism to protect customer’s personal data, while ensuring strict compliance to local laws. To learn more about ways to stay protected from such scams, customers are encouraged to visit our help page.”