Let’s put cyber security aside for a moment and talk about real life and the evolving cashless economy. Paytm, the largest digital payments service provider in the country has reportedly filed a complaint a band of customers who colluded with its executives to cheat the company to the tunes of over 6.15 lakhs (approx $9000). In a rare occurrence, the complaint is being handled by the CBI.
In the FIR complaint filed by Paytm, it has named about 15 customers who are all residents of different locations across the country. Other than the customers, complaints against unnamed officials involved in the scam have also been registered with the CBI. But the involvement of such an important agency in this fraud case seems out of place, also because of the measly 6.15 lakh figure per customer. Usually, the CBI is referred to cases by the central government or the Supreme/High court.
The customers were able to dupe the company of such significants amounts because of the “consumer-friendly return and refunds policies,” as stated in a statement shared by Paytm with The Tech Portal. The complaint filed by Manager Legal M Sivakumar claims that Paytm makes refunds for a defective product delivery and picks up the same from the customer to be sent back to the concerned merchant. It also added:
Accused persons first acquired knowledge as to how the system of complainants’ company works and conspired to book orders, take deliveries of products at common addresses known and or belonging to them and their accomplices and then made or managed false and fabricated entries in computer system of complainant company and approved/made fraudulent refunds against the same orders, delivery of which were taken by their accomplices
This return and refund process is carried out by a team of customer care executives who’re all assigned specific ID and passwords to handle such complaints from their customers. While looking into the same, Paytm found that refunds for 48 customers had been initiated but the product hadn’t been returned. Also, the customers are satisfied with their deliveries and the refunds shouldn’t have happened. Thus, Paytm has taken action and registered a case against 15 customers. A spokesperson has shared the following statement with us:
Paytm has identified about 48 fraudulent users in the physical goods marketplace business, who were trying to game the company’s consumer-friendly practices. Paytm regularly monitors its marketplace business to identify any fraudulent or suspicious behavior.
This is a part of the company’s security practices to ensure that genuine users are able to continuously avail the benefits brought to it by Paytm marketplace. Paytm marketplace has robust risk management practices and regularly reports users who try to game the company’s fair usage.
Though the cashless economy has immense benefits, some people will always try to misuse these innovative technological solutions for their benefit via wrongful deeds.
