Snapdeal Forces Scamsters Off Twitter

Snapdeal has filled a petition, Continuing its strong fight against cybercriminals, Snapdeal has secured a Delhi High Court order that has led to nearly fraudulent 1200 links being removed from Twitter.

In its petition, Snapdeal had asked for action to be taken against scamsters, who were misusing Snapdeal name to run fraudulent schemes. The fraudulent offers were extended through Twitter. Snapdeal had submitted that such misrepresentation is fraudulent and intended to deceive the unsuspecting general public into believing that they are dealing with the Snapdeal company.

Various entities that are in no way associated with Snapdeal had established URLs/links accessible through Twitter. These were in violation of the copyright and registered trademarks of Snapdeal and also sought to represent that they are the official twitter handles of Snapdeal.

As part of their modus operandi, scamsters used handles in question to display certain telephone numbers claiming these numbers to be that of Snapdeal’s customer care service. Unsuspecting individuals who called these numbers were then sought to be enticed with rewards like cars and other such offers and led to make deposits in accounts controlled by the scamsters in order to claim such rewards.

Snapdeal, therefore, sought an order directing Twitter to block access to the enumerated URLs/links.

Acting on Snapdeal’s complaint, the Delhi High Court directed Twitter to remove nearly 1200 such web links.

The court’s interim order came in a suit filed by Snapdeal. In the suit, Snapdeal has also impleaded various unidentified defendants who are the owners of the aforesaid URLs/links.

In December 2018, Snapdeal had secured an order from the Delhi High Court that directed the freezing of nearly 500 bank accounts used by scamsters to receive funds.

The order also directed GoDaddy.com LLC, Endurance Domain Technology LLP, Wild West Domain LLC etc, to suspend infringing domain names used by scamsters. Snapdeal had tracked, collated and provided details and proof, including websites, telecom and banking channels used in recordings of fraud calls, details of bank transfers, etc.

As per a Snapdeal Spokesperson, Cyber frauds being perpetrated by groups of organized criminals by misusing names of leading companies is a serious industry problem. We are committed to fighting it through various means, including seeking judicial redress, educating users and collaborating with law enforcement authorities.”

The incidence of cyber fraud has been on the rise in India with criminals fraudulently using names of banks, wallets, online platforms and other well-known consumer brands to lure unsuspecting users into making online deposits into the accounts of fraudsters. Another widely prevalent scam is to entice users into sharing sensitive financial information like credit card details, KYC information and OTPs, leading to funds being siphoned off from bank accounts and credit /debit cards.

Law enforcement authorities in various jurisdictions have been issuing advisories warning users to be aware of such scams.