SUMMARY
Reliance Industries Ltd moved the Delhi HC, seeking to safeguard its trademark 'AJIO', logo and related marks
The company claimed that perpetrators of the scam sent false letters to recipients in the name of AJIO, leading them to believe that they had won prize money, and then collected money from them
The court also ordered prompt freezing of the bank accounts utilised by the perpetrators of the scam
The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi Police Cyber Cell to launch an investigation into a fraudulent scratch card scheme being carried out by unknown individuals in the name of ‘AJIO’ and ‘AJIO Online Shopping Pvt. Limited’.
Justice Prathiba M. Singh issued the directive while hearing a plea filed by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the parent company of ecommerce platform AJIO, on September 6.
To safeguard its trademark ‘AJIO’, logo and related marks, RIL, in its plea, raised concerns about multiple instances of fraudulent communications bearing the name ‘AJIO Online Shopping Pvt. Ltd.’ and originating from an address in New Town Kolkata, West Bengal.
RIL in its plea said false letters were sent to recipients in the name of AJIO, leading them to believe that they had won prize money ranging from INR 7.5 Lakh to INR 10 Lakh through scratch card coupons. The deceptive letters instructed the recipients on how to claim the purported prizes.
“The preparators of these scam/schemes then proceed to collect money from innocent customers under the garb of payment of advance government taxes and processing fees,” RIL said.
The company added that several of its employees also received such communications and scratch cards.
Following its initial investigation into the scam, RIL said, it was found that the persons who were carrying out these fraudulent and illegal activities were using various mobile numbers and bank accounts to receive the deposits.
The HC said in its order, “The Court is convinced that this appears to be a large-scale operation carried out by unscrupulous individuals with the intention of collecting money under the name of ‘AJIO’ and ‘AJIO Online Shopping Private Limited’. The letters and the scratch cards, etc., are so convincing that any customer or recipient would be unable to distinguish between the Plaintiffs’ communications and those of the said entity or person.”
Justice Singh also ordered prompt freezing of the bank accounts utilised by the perpetrators of the scam. The court also directed submission of comprehensive account statements, including KYC (Know Your Customer) details and any other available information, dating back to the inception of these accounts.
In addition, it directed telecom service providers to expeditiously block all the mobile numbers identified by RIL as being used by the scammers. Simultaneously, the court instructed these service providers to ascertain the identities of the individuals who had registered these mobile numbers.
RIL said in its petition that ‘AJIO’ is one of the most popular brands in India which is evident from the 3 Mn customers who visit the marketplace and 3 Mn app downloads. It added that the marketplace garnered 20% to 25% of the ecommerce net sales in the fashion category.
AJIO competes with the likes of Myntra, Nykaa Fashion and Tata Cliq in the fast-growing and highly competitive online fashion segment in the country.
The development comes at a time when online scams are on a rise in the country, forcing the government to step in. Earlier this year, WhatsApp users in India reported a major surge in incoming international spam calls. The government banned more than 66,000 WhatsApp accounts as part of its crackdown on spam job calls.
