India man orders iPhone worth RM3,923 from Amazon, gets soap bar

Instead of the expected iPhone 12, a man in India got a rude shock when he opened his Amazon package only to discover a bar of soap. — Bloomberg

A man from Kerala, India ordered an Apple iPhone 12 from Amazon but received a bar of soap and a coin instead earlier this month, according to reports.

Noorul Ameen later told Mathrubhumi.com that his account has been credited with the amount he paid to buy the phone using an Amazon Pay card.

A regular Amazon customer, Noorul Ameen ordered the smartphone on Oct 12 after paying 70,900 rupees (RM3,923) through his Amazon Pay card and received the package on Oct 15, according to Mathrubhumi.

However, he became suspicious after the package was halted in Salem for a day after being dispatched from Hyderabad. Most packages arrived from Hyderabad to Kochi in two days, but his iPhone 12 order took three days.

Due to his suspicions, he opened the box in front of the Amazon delivery partner and shot a video while doing so. He told Mathrubhumi that the items felt similar in weight to an iPhone.

The package contained a bar of popular dish-washing bar Vim, a piece of the soap, and a 5 rupee coin instead of the iPhone 12 he had ordered. Ameen immediately called Amazon customer care and filed a police complaint.

The police launched an investigation and found that the iPhone was being used by someone in Jharkhand since Sept 25. This was 15 days before Ameen booked the phone.

“We contacted the Amazon authorities and the Telangana-based seller. The phone has been in use in Jharkhand since September 25 this year, even though the order was placed only in October. When we contacted the seller, he said the phone was out of stock and that the amount paid by Noorul would be returned,” a police officer told the New Indian Express.

Ameen told Mathrubhumi that his account was credited with the amount. Kerala Police also said in a Facebook post that the seller returned the money to Ameen. They said the amount was credited to his account last Thursday and that an investigation into the case is ongoing.

Last month, the New Indian Express also reported that a 22-year-old engineering student in North Paravoor received a package stuffed with old newspapers instead of a high-end laptop she booked. The seller has refunded the amount to the student, the New Indian Express added. – Hindustan Times, New Delhi/Tribune News Service

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