A Bengaluru-based software engineer named Premanand lost ₹1.86 lakh in an Amazon delivery scam. He had ordered a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 smartphone online but was shocked to receive a piece of tile instead of the phone.

Premanand, who lives in Yelachenahalli, placed the order on October 14 and made the full payment through his HDFC credit card. The delivery arrived on October 19 at around 4:16 pm. As he opened the package, he recorded a video to document the unboxing process. However, instead of the smartphone, he found only a square white tile inside the box.

Realising he had been cheated, he immediately filed a complaint on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal and later went to the Kumaraswamy Layout Police Station to report the case. The police have registered an FIR under Sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319 (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as well as Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, which deals with cheating using computer resources. Authorities have begun an investigation to find out who was behind this online scam.

Similar online delivery scams

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. In another similar incident from Mumbai, a 71-year-old woman lost ₹18.5 lakh while trying to order just a litre of milk online in August. The woman, who lives in Wadala, received a phone call from a man claiming to be “Deepak,” an executive from a milk company. He sent her a link and asked her to fill in her details to complete her order.

Trusting him, she followed the instructions while staying on the call for nearly an hour. A few days later, she was horrified to find that her entire savings had been wiped out from three different bank accounts. Police believe the scammer accessed her phone and bank details through the fraudulent link.

Authorities have warned citizens to stay alert while making online purchases or sharing personal details. They advise people to buy products only from verified websites, avoid clicking on suspicious links, and record unboxing videos for proof in case of delivery frauds.