Faridabad teenager steals iPhone data from e-commerce 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.The official said they were still trying to find out how the IMEIs were sourced.While examining these bills, officials contacted Apple India, which said the iPhones had been sold to e-commerce platforms, and then to individual buyers. The investigators analysed more than 8,000 iPhone IMEIs and traced their resale records."IMEIs and other details about these iPhones were taken from Apple India, which showed sales made to online platforms and individual consumers. There was no purchase trail of these phones by these entities," the official said.Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam — the power utility — confirmed that the bills used to establish the two companies were forged and no such consumer existed. E-way bill analysis showed that the vehicles that the accused claimed to have transported the phones in were either invalid or their registration numbers had been misused."For instance, iPhones worth Rs 5.4 crore were listed as moved by Haryana Roadways buses," the official said.Further investigation revealed that no supplier named in the bills existed, suggesting that the accused only received invoices but not actual goods. "The two accused were changing their location over the course of weeks and were difficult to trace. Both have now been remanded in judicial custody by the Faridabad district court for 14 days," the official said.