Man files FIR against Chinese e-com platform Shopee over fraud

New Delhi/Lucknow: Chinese e-commerce company Shopee, facing a controversy over FDI violations in the country, has been hit by an FIR filed by a customer in Lucknow for allegedly defrauding him.

In the FIR, filed at the Mohanlalganj police station in Lucknow on January 15 and seen by IANS, the complainant Shashank Shekhar Singh said that he ordered products online from Shopee on December 10, but what he received were duplicate products.

The FIR has named Shopee, its parent company Bengaluru-based SPPIN India Pvt Ltd, and senior company officials. According to Singh, he ordered three products worth Rs 840, Rs 399 and Rs 1,299 from Shopee.

What he received were not the products shown on the platform but the fake variants, accusing the e-commerce platform of defrauding him.

Last month, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to ban Shopee, which it claimed was operating in India against FEMA Rules and FDI Press Note of 2020. CAIT accused the Chinese e-commerce company Shopee of violating the rules.

Shopee is a Chinese e-commerce giant which has commenced its operations in India through an entity, SPPIN India Pvt Ltd, held by two holding companies, SPPIN I Pvt Ltd and SPPIN II Pvt Ltd, both registered in Singapore, the traders’ body claimed in the letter.

“These two entities are, in turn, held by another parent company SPPIN Ltd, registered in the Cayman Islands. This complex structuring of entities is nothing but an attempt to hoodwink the Indian government and infuse Chinese funds into India,” CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal wrote in the letter.

The traders’ body also alleged Shopee of adopting “predatory pricing tactics”, thereby distorting competition in the market.

The Delhi High Court in November asked Centre’s to reply on a plea seeking to block ecommerce websites and mobile apps operated by SPPIN India Pvt Ltd under the name of Shopee.