A lot of cases have been coming up where people order expensive electronics from e-commerce platforms and end up receiving something totally outrageous, like a soap bar or even coins instead of their actual order.
Adding to this is a new incident from Kerala, where Noorul Ameen ordered an iPhone 12 by paying Rs 70,900 and ended up receiving Vim bars and a Rs 5 coin instead, according to The New Indian Express.
Ameen, a resident of Aluva, placed his order on 12 October and is a regular Amazon customer. He received his parcel on 15 October. He was already suspicious since his package was sent to Salem first from Hyderabad, delaying his order by a day. He was aware that it took only two days for an order to arrive from Hyderabad to Kochi, and this unexpected halt in the route raised his suspicions.
Aware of all the recent incidents of fraud that have been going on, Ameen made sure to open the parcel in front of the delivery executive and also record a video of the same. His suspicions came true when he saw that the thing he had ordered was not delivered.
He immediately filed a complaint with Amazon's customer service and the police as well. Upon investigation by the Cyber Crime Police, it was found that the phone had already been used by someone from Jharkhand from 25 September, 15 days before Ameen placed his order.
"We contacted the Amazon authorities and the Telangana-based seller. The phone has been in use in Jharkhand since September 25 this year, even though the order was placed only in October. When we contacted the seller, he said the phone was out of stock and that the amount paid by Noorul would be returned," said an officer with the investigation team.
Ameen received his refund on 22 October, and investigation regarding how this incident occurred is still underway.
(With inputs from The New Indian Express).
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