New Delhi:  A 21-year-old was successful in conning e-tailer Amazon India at least 166 times by placing online orders and then alleging the boxes were empty. All the orders were of mobile phones for which he received the refund after speaking to Amazon call centre executives.

Shivam Chopra along with his partner in crime Sachin Jain then sold the brand new mobile phones in Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh which the e-commerce giant has claimed to be worth Rs 50 lakh. To make each booking on Amazon, they used over 140 phone numbers and created over four dozen ids on the website.

The orders were placed between April and May this year.  The duo gave fake addresses while making the bookings.

Shivam would give false addresses in the locality where he actually resided and as such the delivery associate would call him over phone for directions, the police said.

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The accused would ask the delivery person to meet him at any shop or any other place in the locality and take the delivery. He would then call up the customer care of Amazon India and allege that the box was empty. Subsequently refunds were initiated, they said.

Shivam, a resident of Tri Nagar in Ganesh Pura was identified using the help of delivery boys.

He was arrested on October 6, the police said. Sachin was also later apprehended.

During investigation, police seized 19 mobile phones, Rs 12 lakh in cash, 40 bank passbooks and cheques from Shivam's house.

In a statement, an Amazon India spokesperson said, "We continue to work closely with the Delhi Police and thank them for all their efforts in the investigation."

(With PTI inputs)