Man duped by fake Facebook friend wins Rs1.25 lakh compensation from TCS

LAHORE: A citizen named Ghuman became friends with a girl named “Shazia Saeed” on Facebook. During the conversation, Shazia asked Siddique to gift her a new mobile phone. Ghuman said, “It’s not a problem, you send me your address, I’ll send it right away.”

Shazia said, “Ghuman, you’ll kill me, send the mobile to my house, do it in such a way that I get it couriered to the TCS office and I’ll receive it from there myself.” Ghuman bought a new OPPO phone and took TCS’s “self-collection” service so that this mobile would be given to Shazia only from the TCS office, in return, Ghuman also paid the insurance charges for the mobile.

A few days later, Shazia messaged Siddique Ghuman on Facebook and told him that she had received the mobile. But after that, the contact ended… no reply and finally Ghuman blocked Ghuman.

Ghuman did not give up, he contacted TCS that if you had given the mobile to Shazia, then there must be some kind of address for it, so give it to me.

TCS people, after looking at the record, told us that it was not Shazia but a boy named Aamir who came to us and said that I am Shazia’s brother, if my sister cannot come to the office, then I should receive the mobile, we got it done. Ghuman was furious that when I had insisted while taking the ‘self-collection’ service that the mobile should be given only to Shazia, then why did you give it to someone else? Ghuman sent a legal notice to TCS.

On this, TCS caught Shazia’s “brother” Aamir. Soon, Aamir told him that “I am ‘Shazia Saeed’, I surrounded Ghuman with a fake ID of this name and ordered the mobile, catch this mobile and return it to Ghuman”. The company contacted Ghuman to return the mobile. Ghuman, heartbroken, got even angrier.

Ghuman demanded Rs 24,000 in damages from the company in addition to the mobile phone, saying that it was the company’s fault. Under the “self-collection” service, the company was only authorized to give the mobile phone to “Shazia.” If she did not come, the mobile phone would have been returned to me. The company refused to pay the damages, saying that it was your fault that you sent the mobile phone on a fake ID.

Siddique Ghuman filed a case in the Consumer Court. After a full trial, the court ordered TCS to pay Rs 24,000 in insurance damages and another Rs 100,000 to Ghuman, saying that he should have sued for not fulfilling Ghuman’s legitimate demand.

The company filed an appeal in the Lahore High Court against the decision. Here, Siddique Ghuman fought his own case and proved the injustice done to him. The High Court dismissed the company’s appeal and upheld the Consumer Court’s decision.

Thus, Ghuman could not get Shazia, but he did get Rs 1.25 lakh in damages.