Delhi HC Asks Meta, Telegram To Suspend Accounts Using Peak XV, Sequoia’s Name To Cheat People

The Delhi High Court has ordered social media giant Meta to delete WhatsApp groups and remove or block access to WhatsApp accounts associated with mobile numbers allegedly used for cheating people by using the name of private equity firms Peak XV Partners and Sequoia Capital.

Peak XV Partners, formerly known as Sequoia Capital India, and Sequoia Capital had filed separate pleas before the Delhi HC seeking interim injunctions against the use of their name and logo for the alleged fraudulent activities.

It is pertinent to note that in December 2023, Peak XV took to X to inform its stakeholders about the fraudulent activities. The investment firm said it came to know about a ‘Pak XV’ application that unauthorisedly operated a fraudulent online investment and trading portal, under the mark “PAK XV”.

“It has come to our attention that certain persons are impersonating and falsely claiming an association with Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA) and/or its employees to conduct fraudulent webinars/programs. These programs may solicit investments from the public through channels such as WhatsApp & Telegram,” the social media post said.

“These individuals and webinars/programs are NOT associated with Peak XV Partners, Sequoia Capital or its employees. The firm does not conduct any such webinars/programs or invite capital from the general public. It does not create WhatsApp/Telegram groups to share stock tips/trading advice,” it said. 

Peak XV had also said it was “actively pursuing legal recourse” against such activities. 

In the HC order document, several such WhatsApp groups and websites were named, including “Peak XV 1026”, “Peak XV”, and “https://pak.xv.ioyppp.com/”.

Meta, Telegram, Alibaba Cloud Computing (Beijing) Co. Ltd, IndusInd Bank Limited, Google LLC, Bharti Airtel, Ministry of Electronics and IT, and Department of Telecommunications were among the defendants in the case.

Besides Meta, Telegram FZ-LLC has also been directed by the HC to delete the Telegram channels and groups involved in the matter. 

On the other hand, the HC has also asked Alibaba to suspend and block access to the website “https://pak.xv.ioyppp.com/” during the pendency of the suit. The company has also been directed to file the complete details with the name, contact details, mode of payment, and IP address used by the registrants of the website in a sealed cover to the Delhi HC.

On the other hand, the HC has asked IndusInd Bank to temporarily suspend and disable the UPI IDs of some people associated with these fraudulent activities.

Bharti Airtel Ltd has also been asked to suspend and disable a mobile number associated with the matter and disclose the details of the registered person’s name to the court. The HC has also asked for the KYC documents of the person within four weeks.

Sequoia Capital, in its plea, said it was informed of a WhatsApp group named John Analyst Group-303 managed by persons who identified themselves as Sequoia Capital Investors Advisors and Sequoia Capital BTC Trading Team.

Following investigations on the matter, a website named “www.leadlec.com” was identified as a phishing and scam website.

“As operators of “www.leadlec.com” namely, Defendant No. 1, were luring consumers using the “SEQUOIA” name/ mark and were also circulating images with trading tips purportedly originating from the Plaintiff (Sequoia),” said the HC.

“The operators/ group admins of the WhatsApp group John Analyst Group-303 have not been authorised by the Plaintiff (Sequoia) to offer financial trading and investment related advices, and are misrepresenting themselves to the public to that effect,” the HC observed. “Prima facie, it appears to be an illegitimate website, intended to be used as a ploy to induce the users to invest substantial sums of money.”

As a result, the HC has also directed that till the next date of hearing, the website or any person acting on their behalf would not use “SEQUOIA” trademarks or its variations, as a part of their domain names, websites, mobile applications, social media handle names/ profiles credentials/ description, promotional/ business activities on digital or print media, bank accounts and/ or any business papers in any manner that might amount to infringement of Sequoia’s trademarks.

It is pertinent to note that US-based VC major Sequoia Capital spun off its India investment entity from its US and Chinese counterparts in June last year, and the India entity was named Peak XV.