A student's complaint about a ₹799 kurta led Delhi police to three shell companies and about ₹30 crore in suspected fraud. Her story shows the scam's pattern.
A Delhi University student reported losing ₹6,500 to a fake online clothing seller. Police followed the money and say they found a network tied to about ₹30 crore in suspected fraud. Seven men have been arrested, the latest on October 10 in Kanpur.
In June, Fatima, a second-year student at Ramjas College, saw an Instagram ad for a seller called Kavya Kurti. After she picked a kurta, she was sent to WhatsApp to finish the purchase. She ordered one worth ₹799 and paid ₹400 upfront through a QR code.
Then the seller kept asking for more. Police say she was told to pay ₹1,150 as a refundable charge for generating a code. Later requests were for ₹2,000, ₹2,650 and ₹650. She never got the clothing or a refund.
Cyber police traced her payment through Pine Labs Merchant to a Canara Bank account. It belonged to Kizentech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a Greater Noida company. Police linked the account to Aditya Mishra and Udit Pratap Singh Bhadauriya.
Orders tied to the suspected WhatsApp number pointed to a Greater Noida address. A raid there led to six arrests. Police also found three suspected firms in rented premises: Kizentech Solutions, Executive Edge and Nexcore. They recovered phones, SIM cards, banking documents and electronic devices.
Police describe three shell companies, which are firms that exist mostly on paper so money can pass through them. They say the companies received and routed money from cyber fraud. According to police, the setup worked in steps:
Police say the accused are educated and technically skilled. Pandey holds a BBA degree.
The material does not say what charges the men face or when any case will reach court. It also does not say how many other victims there were or whether any lost money will be returned. The ₹30 crore figure is described as suspected, not proven.
The shopping scam here was small, but the pattern is common. A seller who keeps asking for extra fees, such as a refundable charge for a code, is a warning sign. Stop paying and report it to the police. Small complaints can matter. This one opened a much larger case.
If a seller keeps asking for new fees after you have paid, stop sending money and report it, because that repeating pattern is a classic scam.
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