Amazon delivery boys caught swapping iPhones, gadgets with dummy items; arrested

Surat Police have arrested five people for swapping high-value Amazon parcels with dummy goods during delivery. Investigators are now tracing the remaining products and checking whether more orders were tampered with.

In Short

• Police said the gang caused losses of around Rs 8 lakh
• Recovered items include an iPhone 17 Pro and 8TB SSD
• Parcel seals were cut and original products quietly swapped out

The Surat Police have busted a gang accused of tampering with Amazon deliveries by removing genuine, high-value products from parcels and replacing them with dummy or low-value items. Five people, including four delivery boys and a supervisor, have been arrested in connection with the racket.

The accused targeted high-value products ordered online and exploited the delivery process to remove the original items before the parcels reached customers. Police said the gang caused an estimated loss of around Rs 8 lakh to the company.

Among the items recovered by the police are an Apple iPhone 17 Pro (1TB) and a SanDisk Extreme 8TB Portable External SSD. Goods worth around Rs 3.25 lakh have been recovered so far, while efforts are underway to trace the remaining products.

HOW THE AMAZON DELIVERY SWAP WAS CARRIED OUT

According to the police, the case came to light after a complaint was received regarding the tampering of products being delivered by Express Transportation Services Private Limited, an Amazon delivery partner.

The complaint was filed by Mayur Bhimrao Shinde, a Legal Associate Manager with the company. The company informed police that genuine products were being removed during the delivery process and replaced with dummy or low-value goods.

The accused cut open parcel seals carefully, removed the original products and replaced them with substitute items before processing the packages through the company's system as though they contained the original goods.

The fraud came to light when customers returned the products and the codes and serial numbers did not match the details of the original items. Amazon subsequently rejected such returns after detecting the discrepancies.

POLICE CRACKED THE CASE AFTER WAREHOUSE COMPLAINT

Police Inspector B.A. Bhatt said the police were contacted on August 20 by the manager of an Intex Transportation warehouse in their jurisdiction. The facility handles Amazon shipments, and the manager suspected that products were being swapped during the delivery process.

Police sought details of the products dispatched by Amazon, including their identification numbers, as well as information about the substitute products received by customers.

The manager later arrived from Pune with the relevant details, following which the police began a detailed investigation into the suspected delivery fraud.

Based on the information gathered during the probe, police identified five suspects as being part of the operation.

FIVE ACCUSED ARRESTED

The arrested accused have been identified as Jay Babubhai Nihal, Nikhil Pravinbhai Mordia, Vivek Rohit Mangilal Khatik, Vikas Mangilal Khatik and Neeraj Ramkrishna Kushwaha.

Police said the accused included four Amazon delivery boys and a supervisor.

During the investigation, police received information that prime suspect Jai Babulal Viras was present in the Katargam area. He was apprehended and questioned, following which police said the wider network and the involvement of his accomplices came to light.

IPHONE, 8TB SSD AMONG GOODS RECOVERED

During the investigation, police recovered an Apple iPhone 17 Pro with 1TB storage and a SanDisk Extreme 8TB Portable External SSD from the prime suspect.

Police said the recovered goods are worth around Rs 3.25 lakh in total. The 8TB portable hard disk alone is valued at approximately Rs 1.25 lakh.

According to the police, the five accused had collectively defrauded the company of approximately Rs 8 lakh. The police are continuing efforts to recover the remaining goods.

PROBE UNDERWAY TO FIND FULL EXTENT OF RACKET

Police suspect that the accused may have carried out similar frauds involving other products in the past. The investigation is now focused on establishing the total number of Amazon orders that were tampered with, identifying the number of high-value products replaced and determining whether more people were involved.

Police are questioning the arrested accused to establish the full extent of the racket and trace the remaining stolen goods.

- Ends
With inputs from Sanjay Singh Rathod