Faridabad teenager steals iPhone data from ecommerce sites to commit Rs 64cr fraud
GURGAON: A 19-year-old boy from Faridabad allegedly pulled off a Rs 64-crore fraud on central GST over the past two years, using fake bills showing the sale of iPhones and registering bogus firms in the name of his grandmother and house help. Officials said Sanket Mittal (19) and Naveen Tayal (34) fraudulently sourced data regarding the sale of iPhones from e-commerce sites to claim input tax credits.
He also produced fake bills to show he had transported phones worth Rs 5.9 crore in Haryana Roadways buses.
The duo came under the scanner of officials from CGST's Faridabad commissionerate because of the high amount of tax credit claimed. Preliminary probe led the data analytics team to two units — Balaji Mobile Addition and Monit Enterprises — which generated bogus invoices to cause a loss of Rs 64.2 crore loss to the GST.
Asked about the modus operandi, a CGST official in Faridabad said Sanket used forged electricity bills to set up the two firms — one in the name of his grandmother, another with details of his domestic staffer. The accused then obtained iPhone IMEIs from online platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, and Appario, and used these numbers on fake bills to show they had been sold to fictitious firms and claim tax credit.
