I Have Fallen Prey to the Flipkart’s iPhone Biometrics Scam

Big Billion Day is just around the corner [by the time of publishing this post, it might already be live for the Black and Plus members]. But I made the purchase a couple of days before that, as there’s no offer on the device that I tried to get my hands on. But what exactly is this Flipkart’s iPhone Biometrics Scam, and why should one give a damn about it? Let’s find out.

I Have Fallen Prey to Flipkart’s iPhone Biometrics Scam

I tried purchasing a Pixel 10 Pro XL in return for my older iPhone 14 Plus. The value for my iPhone was shown to be around Rs 32,000. My device was in perfect condition without any dents or scratches, and I had the original box with the IMEI as well, which is why I was getting the best value out of it.

The delivery first took out his device and used an app to test out my iPhone. Everything went well till now. After that, he installed the Flipkart Reset Pulse app on my iPhone to test out a few in-device features, which included:

• Screen Discoloration: Passed [Means No Discoloration]
• Touch Not Working: Passed [Means Touch is working]
• Proximity Sensor: Passed
• WiFi: Passed
• Bluetooth: Passed
• GPS: Passed
• Biometric Check: FAILED
• Front Camera: Passed
• Back Camera: Passed

The test was performed so quickly that you’ll miss if you blink. The delivery boy told me not to peek while the test was going on, as he might get disturbed, and the report would anyway be shared with me at the end. So I took a step back, and this was my biggest mistake. When the test was complete, he generated the report and gave me a link to open on another device that had the SIM card inserted.

So I opened the link, and the first thing that was shown was that I had to pay around Rs 6500 extra ! This took me by surprise because I was quite sure that my device was in perfect working condition with hardly any negatives. So why this extra amount? I scrolled down to view the test report, and here are a few things that I noticed:

• Small pecks of dust
• Out of Warranty
• Biometric Failed

It was all well and good for the first two, but when I stumbled upon the third result, I was taken aback for a moment. But I knew what was going on or about to go on, so I was all up and ready for it. Moreover, since the biometrics of my iPhone were working well and good, there’s nothing to worry about from my end. So I then asked him how exactly this test could fail. And from here, things begin to take an interesting turn. So bring in your popcorn and fasten your seatbelts.

After asking the delivery boy how the Biometrics could fail when both the fingerprint and face unlock were working well and good, he straightaway replied- “I had no role to play in this test, it was carried out automatically by the app. Our app read that something was wrong with the Biometrics, and hence it showed the failed result. I had control only over the display test, which your device is passing, but for the Biometrics, it wasn’t under my control, so don’t ask me”.

His tone started to change, and he became slightly more aggressive as he started inserting his dominance into the conversation, and this is when I realised what he was trying to do. Instead of shouting back at him and making a mess out of this scenario, I took a 30-second break to understand why exactly the test failed, and then realised what exactly happened!

So I had been asked to remove my Apple ID from iCloud and factory reset my device [the latter one is also mentioned in the Flipkart Device Exchange Rules]. So when I reset my device, both my Fingerprint and Face ID were removed from my device, and either the Flipkart Reset Pulse app was not able to initiate the Face Unlock mechanism, or the iPhone didn’t find it secure enough to respond to a request from a third-party app for the same. As a result of this, the app straightaway marked the test result as Failed.

Now that everything was cleared, I took my iPhone from his hands and added Face ID. Then I re-performed the test right in front of him and showed him that the device actually passed the test. Then I explained to him what exactly was the issue, and he simply said, with a straight face, “OK”. I didn’t argue any further because the issue was already addressed, so I simply asked him to take the next sensible approach, which was to re-perform the test.

But the next statement, which he said left me extremely furious- he had already sent this report to Flipkart [where my Biometrics was failing] and now nothing could be done, atleast for the next 24 hours. I was like, Why didn’t you show me the report first before directly sending it to Flipkart, for which I got no response whatsoever. You could say, “What’s the issue with waiting for a day”? Well, there were two:

• I had chosen Sunday [my only off-day] as the date of delivery, as I could carry out all the data backup restore process and also check out all the AI tweaks that the Pixel had to offer
• I had already reset my primary device [iPhone]. So now I had to restore the data on that device, wait for a day, again reset my device, and then restore the data on my new device [Pixel]- all of this on a working day, and that too on Monday out of all the days!

So I put forward these points and asked him to do something from his end and re-initiate the report process, or if that’s not possible, ask another delivery boy to carry out this process. He just said no in a rude tone and walked out of the door as if I was the problem all along. I then told him about his amateur and inexperienced behavior, to which he took the most drastic approach and cancelled my order ! Now this triggered me and led me to take an action, which he might reconsider doing anything like this ever again throughout his life.

But why did I take an action? If the order was cancelled, I would anyway get all the amount, and I can easily re-order in just a few clicks. Well, due to three reasons-

• His unprofessional behavior.
• I had applied for a few offers that could only be applied for once. Since I had already used them while purchasing this device, I cannot use them again, leading to the device’s cost increasing by 10,000-15,000 if I re-order it.
• Oh, and I just can’t keep on playing this game with Filpkart.

So I first called Flipkart and after talking with numerous AI, I was finally able to reach a human being! Then I told her this entire fiasco, to which she apologised and told me that she had lodged a report, and now I had to wait for a couple of days for the outcome. Ah yes, I don’t have anything else in my life apart from playing this game with Flipkart.

So I then took the next best action [which should have been my first course of action] and wrote the entire ordeal on LinkedIn , tagging Flipkart as well. Within a couple of minutes, I was told to write this entire scenario in a Google Form as well, which I did.

Then, to my surprise, I got a call from them within an hour, and this time, there was an employee from a higher authority who patiently listened to all my queries before giving me assurance that he would try his best to resolve the matter as soon as possible. He then called me again a few hours later, informing me that the action has been taken against that delivery boy, and another one will come tomorrow to carry out this exchange. So I just have to wait for a few more hours.

The only thing I was sceptic about was the fact that the order was already showing cancelled in the My Orders section of Flipkart, so how can the delivery agent come tomorrow to deliver the phone? I put forward this query to that guy, and he said that in their system, my order is still active and will surely be delivered on the next day, that is 22nd of September. With the level of assurance he gave me, I put all my queries to rest and went on with my other tasks [yes, I have life outside Flipkart too!]

The next day, I got a message from Flipkart, which I was quite sure would be: “Order is out for delivery”, but it turned out to- “Your order is cancelled; due to an expected issue” . Seriously, that’s the best they could come up with- Due to an unexpected issue! All that calls for reassurance turned out to be nothing! Moreover, as I have told before, I cannot re-order because offers were only one-time applicable, now if I have to purchase it again, I’ll have to shell out atleast Rs 15,000 extra.

More development to follow….

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