Flipkart Hit By Another Scam. This Time Its Own Vendor Dupes the Firm of 1.5 Lakh!

Flipkart Hit By Another Scam. This Time Its Own Vendor Dupes the Firm of 1.5 Lakh!

November 17, 2015 by Sampoorna

Flipkart, the India’s largest E-Commerce firm once again hit by another scam. But, this time, it is not some other person who scammed the company. Flipkart’s own vendor had deceived the company for over Rs. 1.5 lakhs. However, it is not such a big scam compared to the previous scam wherein a guy from Hyderabad scammed Flipkart for over Rs.20 lakhs! He was considered as the most intelligent criminal who cheated the company with such a huge amount. Now, the Online giant has accused a Bengaluru-based vendor of duping the company for Rs. 1.5 lakhs.

Flipkart Accuses its Own Vendor

The accused named S. Ramesh Kumar, a 33-year old vendor was arrested by police as the company accused him of frauding the company. He was a vendor of  electronic goods to e-commerce firm Flipkart who sells car accessories through the Flipkart. He used to deliver products to the customers that are of inferior quality or fake while the bills sent to Flipkart were original. He would replace original electronic goods with low-quality ones and return them to Flipkart. Even, he reportedly cancelled many orders and moreover, accused Flipkart of having sent back sub-standard products to him.

Replaced Original with Fake Products

The accused was identified as the owner of the firm Nandi Electronics. On November 9, Shivaram Krishna, manager at Flipkart registered the complaint alleging that products ordered from them were being stolen. Usually, whenever a customer places an order on Flipkart, a registered vendor is informed. The vendor then packs and ships the item to the particular customer and later Flipkart pay for the same. In March 2014, Ramesh Kumar’s Nandi Electronic was registered with Flipkart as a vendor for car accessories.

According to the Police, for the past few months, Ramesh Kumar started complaining to Flipkart that the products he had shipped to customers were being returned undelivered. Ramesh claimed that when he opened the packages, he found cheap car accessories such as seat covers beads inside instead of the expensive electrical items that he had shipped. He accused the delivery boys and suspected them as they were stealing and replacing the items.

Initially, Flipkart settled his claims and paid him the amount that was due to him. Such complaints continued for many times and then they decided to investigate what’s the problem behind this and registered a complaint with Kamakshipalya police.

Reacting to the development, a Flipkart spokesperson said, “Flipkart observes a zero-tolerance policy on incidents where sellers are found violating customer trust and quality guidelines. We have investigated this case and found that the seller has been involved in fraudulent activity, which includes selling fake and sub-standard quality products. As a responsible marketplace, we have followed the legal protocol, informed the authorities and taken the necessary action as per the law.”

This is the second such incident involving the company in recent times. Earlier a Hyderabad man was arrested for cheating of Rs 20 lakh by returning fake items after complaining that their goods were of poor quality. People are becoming over smart and trying to make money easily through the wrong path.