PAYTM PROBE REVEALS AT LEAST ₹10 CR FRAUD, SAYS FOUNDER

MUMBAI: Paytm has unearthed an over ₹10 crore fraud following a probe into a large percentage of cashbacks earned by small merchants, and de-listed hundreds of sellers apart from sacking many employees, its head Vijay Shekhar Sharma said on Tuesday. Regarding the feasibility of businesses providing freebies, Sharma said the cashback model is sustainable. “After Diwali, what my team saw was that there were some small sellers who were getting large percentage of the cashbacks and we as a team asked our auditors to do a deeper audit,” Sharma told reporters here.

The company found out that some sellers were colluding with junior employees to earn the cashbacks, he added. The overall size of the fraud is in “double digits”, which is “₹10 crore for sure”.