An FIR has been filed against the directors of social commerce platform Meesho for allegedly selling counterfeit goods on its platform. The FIR was registered at the Wazirganj police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow on January 24. MediaNama has seen a copy of the FIR and has confirmed its authenticity from both the police station and the complainant. Entrackr was the first to report the complaint.
The complainant, in the FIR, said that they had ordered a Rolex branded watch, and a Gucci branded t-shirt, which turned out to be fake. They confirmed that both the products were fake after showing them at many stores, per the FIR.
“We come from middle class families, and it feels good that we could afford good clothes. But then when these things turn out to be fake, it causes you a lot of distress. I got the Rolex watch for ₹600 or ₹700, but then when I asked at the Rolex store, they told me their watches start from ₹3 lakh,” the complainant told MediaNama.
The FIR said that Meesho’s directors Vidit Aatrey, and Sanjeev Kumar engaged in a deliberate breach of trust by allowing fake products to sell on their platform, and they can possibly repeat this with other people to “steal their money”.
In response to our queries, Meesho sent us the following response:
“We are cognizant of the recent situation and are co-operating with the authorities on the investigation. We would like to underline that we as a marketplace have rigorous processes around quality checks and also conduct elaborate training programs for our Suppliers. We have strict company policies against the selling of counterfeit products on our platform and take action when it comes to our notice including delisting of suppliers. We are a law abiding corporate entity, and we are fully compliant with all the requirements under the Indian law.” — Meesho
The FIR comes just days after a petition was filed in the Delhi High Court seeking for the government to ensure that social commerce companies such as Meesho, GlowRoad, and Shop101, display products’ country of origin, seller details, maximum retail price of commodities, and the name of manufacturers.
Earlier in January, a report by the United States Trade Representative claimed that counterfeit products ran rampant on e-commerce platform Snapdeal, with 37% of buyers claiming to have received a fake product from the platform, per a survey. However, Snapdeal hit back at the USTR’s report, contending that the USTR failed to understand the difference between a marketplace and a seller.
Also read:
- USTR Names Snapdeal For Selling Counterfeit Goods, Company Calls Findings ‘Ill Informed’
- Govt Should Ensure Social Commerce Companies Show Country Of Origin Of Goods: Plea In Delhi HC
*Update at 12:57 PM, Feb 1: Updated with statement from Meesho. Originally published at 11:07 AM, Feb 1.
