In a shocking revelation, 18 former employees of e-commerce giant Amazon have been accused of duping the company of Rs 102 crore. The scam involved creating fake delivery trips to claim transportation reimbursements. A complaint has been filed by Amazon with the Cyber Security Bureau, and an investigation is currently underway.

Amazon’s delivery operations are highly digitized and involve multiple tiers. When a customer places an order, the consignment is sent to a nearby warehouse, from where it is delivered to the customer’s address. Delivery personnel use a dedicated app to check in after collecting goods from the warehouse and check out after completing the delivery. The entire process is monitored by Amazon’s Relay Operation Centre in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, which oversees global deliveries.

In this case, the former employees, in collusion with US-based suppliers, manipulated the system. They registered fake delivery trips, claiming to have delivered goods in the US without actually doing so. They then reported that the customers were unavailable or the addresses were incorrect, allowing them to fraudulently claim transportation charges.

The scam was uncovered during Amazon’s internal audit. According to Amazon spokesperson GS Arjun Kumar, “Some employees at the Relay Operation Center in Hyderabad were lured by 18 former staff. They registered fake trips as if they had gone to deliver goods in the US without actually going there and claimed that there were no customers. They looted Rs 102 crore as transportation charges.”

A case has been registered against 22 individuals, including Mohammed Abdul Fahim, K Anil Kumar, Akanksha Patnaik, Avinash Kari, Kunal Kaushik Devalla, and others. The police are investigating the matter, and further details are expected to emerge as the probe progresses.