Online grocery scam fails to deliver

Yangpu police

Yangpu police

A total of 14 deliverymen have been held for allegedly defrauding an online shopping website by registering non-existing users, Shanghai police said on Friday.

The website, based in Shanghai, alleges that it has lost over 600,000 yuan (US$85,000) in six months to some fraudsters who made18,000 purchases using false accounts of new users to get discounts.

Police found that all of the problematic deliveries were made in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and paid from the bank accounts of the 14 deliverymen.

Police said the suspects purchased products such as milk and napkins priced about 30 yuan and sold at 10 yuan with discounts, and then sold them to local grocery stores for a profit.

All of the suspects were caught from Chengdu in late July.