3 held for selling fake products of Hyderabad doctor’s popular soap, skincare brand

Hyderabad: The team of Cybercrimes PS, Hyderabad City, apprehended three persons accused of selling fake products of registered brand names.

The accused have been identified as Nikhil (26), Mohit Sharma (25) and Sonu Kumar (26). All are residents of Delhi and are involved in copyright fraud.

The crime came to light after a complaint was received from the victim, a Hyderabad doctor, stating that their company sells skin care and hair care products under their registered brand name. Over the past month, they have discovered that one of their brand products, a soap, is being unauthorisedly white-labelled and sold on online platforms by third-party sellers.

There are a total of 19 fake listings on the websites. These sellers are falsely representing the product under different names, the complaint said. The misrepresentation has led to customer confusion and dissatisfaction, which is severely damaging the reputation of the company. The unauthorised sales are also impacting the company’s legitimate business revenue.

The actions of these sellers may constitute trademark infringement, misrepresentation and unfair trade practices. In this regard, a case has been registered for offences under Sections 66 C and D of the IT Act-2008, Sections 318(4) and 319(2) of BNS and Sections 63 and 65 of the Copyright Act, at PS Cyber Crime, Hyderabad.

Modus Operandi

Nikhil, Mohit Sharma and Sonu Kumar ran an e-commerce business, and they decided to earn money easily by manufacturing, selling and labelling fake products with registered companies original products through e-commerce websites.

In this case, the accused formed a gang and noticed that there is a huge demand for the victim’s company soap online and skincare soap bars, and they manufactured the fake soaps with similar colour, quantity and design with the help of absconding accused, Dinesh Negi and Pankaj.

The accused persons formed a group and knowingly cheated the original company to earn money easily by selling the fake products, though duly listing the products on online platforms.

The police seized company soap bars (80), skincare soap bars (20), a mobile and a laptop.

Public advisory

These fake listings are misrepresenting the product under different names, leading to customer confusion, dissatisfaction and potential harm due to the use of unauthentic products.

The public is hereby strongly advised to purchase only from official brand-authorised sellers or through verified sources.

Victims of cybercrime fraud can get help by immediately by dial 1930 or by visiting cybercrime.gov.in.