Internet shopper held for defrauding shop and courier company
A man has been detained for allegedly defrauding a courier company by taking advantage of an online store's refund policy, Shanghai police said on Tuesday.
The suspect, surnamed Gao, asked to return the products and then claimed them back, while in the meantime also receiving a refund from the shop, police said.
Using the same trick a few times since December last year, Gao has allegedly received 48 garments, worth about 30,000 yuan (US$4,400) in total, from the same shop without paying.
Police in Baoshan District started their investigation in May after the courier company, located in the same district, reported the case.
Since the shop didn’t receive the returned products in the end, the courier had to make up for their loss.
Gao usually had the products delivered to a cabinet for packages or a public place where packages could be left and collected later, which made it hard for the courier company to verify whether the receiver collected them or not, police said.
The man was caught in Shijiazhuang city, Hebei Province, on August 22 and has allegedly confessed.
Gao allegedly said the shop offers instant refunds, but since the courier company was unaware of the policy, he asked for the products back before they were returned to the shop.
Police said the courier company has rectified its procedures to prevent similar frauds in the future.