2 men arrested for online purchase refund scams, stolen items worth $15k recovered

Two 23-year-old men were arrested on Aug 13 and 14 respectively, for their suspected involvement in a series of online purchase refund scams.

On Aug 1, the police received a report that there were multiple suspicious refund transactions on an online shopping platform. 

Through ground enquiries and follow-up investigations, the two suspects were subsequently identified and arrested by officers from Central Police Division at Lorong 5 Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 on Aug 13 and 14.

Stolen items amounting to about S$15,000 were also recovered and seized.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the two men are believed to have created multiple accounts with different particulars and placed orders for high-value items such as gaming computer parts, mobile phones, and supplements.

After receiving the items, the duo had allegedly submitted requests for refund claiming that they had not received the items. They are later believed to have listed the items online for resale. 

The two men allegedly performed 39 counts of fraudulent refunds amounting to about S$25,900 between August 2017 and March 2018.

Investigations are ongoing.