 "Delhi High Court")
The Delhi High Court today ordered instant messaging platforms WhatsApp and Telegram to suspend accounts cheating people in the name of venture capitalists Peak XV Partners & Sequoia Capital.
The court also directed the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and Department of Telecommunications to issue appropriate directions to curb these identified scams. It asked the authorities to give directions to all telecom and Internet Service Providers, Domain Name Registrars in India to permanently block/delete/remove access to all the telephone numbers, websites, domain names, accounts on social media and messaging platforms etc., which are the subject matter of the present suit.
Peak XV & Sequoia Capital filed separate lawsuits before the Delhi High Court on January 22, 2024, against the unknown persons proliferating the identified online financial scams by offering fraudulent trading and investment-related advice in the name of the two venture capital firms.
The suits came up for hearing on January 24, where the Hon’ble Court took note of the scams being perpetrated, and passed orders stating that the perpetrators are taking aid of Peak XV and Sequoia Capital’s standing in the market to induce unwary consumers into investing substantial amounts, and passing off Peak XV's and Sequoia Capital's respective trademarks and/or claiming an association with its personnel.
These scammers would use the name of the two VCs in order to dupe the public to the extent of several lakhs and crores.
Peak XV was alerted to one such scam in December '23 - a 'Pak XV' application that attempted to pass-off Peak XV's brand and trademarks including reproducing content from the official website to operate their website and application that offered fake investment schemes.
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In September 2023, Sequoia Capital 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, supposedly a part of the Sequoia Capital Group.
According to Sequoia's filings, which Business Standard has seen, the scammers would ask the user to open a Bitcoin trading account on the website www.leadlec.com.
Similarly, in September, Peak XV learnt of a website “https://pakxv.joyppp.com/” and mobile application “PAK XV”, which were intended to offer investment options and services by Peak XV. According to the documents filed by Peak XV in the court, investors were told that they could earn an income of Rs 19,900 upon investing Rs 1,000 with a daily income of Rs 425 for a period of 45 days.
Peak XV also claimed that the WhatsApp group ‘Peak XV 1026’ profile uses the name and images of Peak XV's Managing Director Shailendra Singh and Rajan Anandan.
Moreover, in some cases, the perpetrators have impersonated employees of the firm to conduct webinars on stock trading tips with the intent to dupe the public.
