Mumbai, May 15: PayTM Mall, which unearthed a Rs 5-10 crore fraud on Monday, has fired 10 of its employees after the scam came to light. A few employees of PayTM Mall, connived with third party vendors and allegedly availed cashback offers. PayTM Mall Cashback Fraud: PayTM Partners With EY to Catch Conmen.

The fraud was uncovered following a probe into a large percentage of cashbacks earned by small merchants. Apart from sacking its employees, the firm also de-listed hundreds of sellers from its platform.

Addressing the press in Mumbai, PayTM founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, "After Diwali, what my team saw was that there were some small sellers who were getting a large percentage of the cashbacks and we as a team asked our auditors to do a deeper audit."

The company, which reportedly engaged consultancy firm EY to conduct the audit, found out that some sellers were colluding with junior employees to earn cashbacks, he added.

Sharma said actions against the wrongdoers are being taken, including de-listing “hundreds” of sellers to ensure there are only brand sellers on the platform and not the “mom-and-pop shops”, he said.

While the number of sellers would reduce, such stringent actions will ensure “better ecosystem” for the consumers, he said. Some employees of the Alibaba-backed company allegedly worked with third-party vendors and created fake orders to siphon off cashback offers, according to reports.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 15, 2019 10:09 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).