CBI starts probe into Amazon cheating case, two Indian scammers booked

India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched an investigation into the alleged defrauding of Amazon customers in the US by Indian scammers.

According to officials, the scammers were allegedly planting 'child sexual abuse material' on computers of unsuspecting customers and extorting money from them in exchange for 'safeguarding them from hackers.'

The agency has booked Sachitanand Tiwari and Ayush Tiwari of Subhals IT Solutions based on a complaint from Amazon for cheating customers of the e-commerce giant in the guise of being its customer service agents, officials said.


As part of their operation, the accused would send e-mails to targets with Amazon logos, asserting that an expensive delivery has been booked for them through their accounts and would be delivered to a non-existent address in Florida, they said.

The mails would come with a fake phone number which when called connected gullible customers to fraudsters based in India impersonating Amazon customer representatives, who would falsely inform victims that their Amazon accounts were compromised by hackers and they would need assistance from the fraud department at the e-retailer.

The accused hoodwinked the customers into getting remote access to their computers to demonstrate that their systems were corrupted by viruses and CSAM planted by hackers who were ordering from their Amazon accounts, the CBI said.

The swindlers then offered the customers various fake software solutions to clean their system for which they charged substantial amounts of money through PayPal or gift cards.

The tech giant after being flooded by such complaints contacted one of the numbers on the advice of its lawyers to understand how they functioned following which a complaint was given to the CBI.

With inputs from PTI