Man orders mobile phone from online site, gets brick instead
Aurangabad, Oct 17 : A man here in Maharashtra has filed a complaint against a leading online retailer for allegedly sending him a piece of brick instead of a mobile handset that he ordered, police said Wednesday.
Gajanan Kharat, a resident of HUDCO area here, told the police that on October 9, he placed an order for a mobile phone on the shopping site and also paid Rs 9,134 for it, Harsul police station inspector Manish Kalyankar said.
Kharat subsequently received a message from the e-commerce company that the product would be delivered in a week's time.
The man received a packet from the retailer last Sunday. However, when he opened it, he allegedly found a piece of brick inside it instead of the mobile handset, Kalyankar said.
The man then called up the courier delivery man, who told him that their responsibility was only to deliver the parcel and not to see what was inside it, he said.
Kharat lodged a complaint Tuesday against the e-commerce company at the Harsul police station here.
The police official said they have registered a case under IPC sections pertaining to cheating and are probing it.
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FIR filed after e-commerce platform linked tech firm alleges SMS spoofing fraud
Bengaluru (PTI): An FIR has been registered against unknown people for allegedly sending fraudulent messages in the name of an e-commerce platform with promises of cash rewards, further disrupting its operations, police said on Wednesday.
The offence is said to have taken place between April 23 and April 27, they said.
A representative of city-based technology company Hiveloop Technology Pvt Ltd (HTPL), part of the Udaan group (eB2B platform), has lodged a complaint alleging a large-scale SMS spoofing fraud following which a detailed investigation has been initiated into the matter, a senior police officer said.
According to the FIR, HTPL is a registered entity on the TRAI-mandated DLT platform, which permits only pre-approved SMS templates and whitelisted URLs to be sent through authorised sender IDs.
The issue came to light on April 23, when HTPL received alerts from buyers about fraudulent SMS messages appearing to originate from the company's sender ID "UDAANN". The messages reportedly contained Bitly links and falsely claimed a credit of Rs 10,001, urging recipients to withdraw money, it said.
On April 27, at around 12:49 pm, the DLT platform blacklisted HTPL's SMS templates, citing their alleged use in sending fraudulent messages. Within minutes, the company's sender ID was also blacklisted. Airtel's DLT system subsequently confirmed the action and shared details of the fraudulent messages that were circulated in HTPL's name without its knowledge or consent, the FIR stated.
Following this, the company's messaging operations were affected, and even legitimate communications such as one-time passwords to buyers began failing. Later, the DLT operator suspended HTPL's entire account following complaints raised on TRAI's Chakshu platform, bringing all SMS services of the company to a halt, it further stated.
HTPL has stated that neither it nor its authorised vendors sent the fraudulent messages. The links embedded in the messages reportedly redirected users to an online betting website, the FIR stated.
The company has claimed that the incident has resulted in a complete breakdown of SMS-based services, including buyer authentication, order updates and promotional communication, leading to significant financial losses.
At least 13 victims have been identified so far, with the possibility of more affected users. Victims were allegedly directed to an online betting platform, raising concerns of potential financial fraud, the FIR added.
