Bengaluru: Fraud Case – Three arrested for scamming e-commerce platform of Rs 5.5 crore

Bengaluru: Three individuals from Gujarat were arrested by the Cyber Crime police of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) for defrauding the online e-commerce platform Meesho of Rs 5.5 crore by creating fake customers.

The accused, identified as Uttam Kumar (23), Parth Bhai (24), and Maulik (26), hail from Surat district in Gujarat.

According to police, the fraud took place between January and July 2024. The accused used fake SIM cards and mobile phones to carry out their scheme. A complaint was filed by a local nodal officer of Meesho, which led to the arrests, Commissioner B. Dayananda disclosed at a press briefing on Tuesday.

During the investigation, the Cyber Crime police uncovered details of six suspects. Bank account details used for the fraudulent transfers and multiple phone numbers were traced. So far, three main suspects have been arrested, and the search for the remaining three is ongoing, police said.

How the fraud was executed:

The accused set up a fake company named “Om Sai Fashion” in Surat and registered it on the Meesho platform, portraying it as a legitimate vendor. They then created fake customer profiles with bogus names and addresses and placed 2,000 to 2,500 product orders daily via the Meesho app.

The products ordered were redirected to their company using incorrect delivery addresses. They swapped the contents of returned parcels and sent videos to Meesho claiming the products were tampered with. Using these fraudulent claims, they collected refunds from Meesho, which were automatically transferred to their accounts.

Further investigation revealed that the same accused were also involved in a similar fraud case registered in 2023 at the Whitefield Police Station.

The press briefing was attended by Additional Commissioner of Police Satish Kumar, CCB Chief Chandragupta, DCP Srinivas Gowda, and Investigating Officer Hajresh Killedar.