Police in Bengaluru has filed an FIR against online shopping site called Club Factory on Thursday, accusing the company of selling counterfeit products on its platform to the buyers.
According to a Bangalore Mirror report, the city’s police has registered a case of cheating and criminal breach of trust against Future India Private Limited, which is the Indian entity of Club Factory, Jialun Li and Garvit Aggarwal who are directors of the Chinese e-commerce company.
Reports suggest this isn’t the first time when the marketplace site has been alleged for selling fake products, as multiple complaints have been filed before by consumers. The company sells its products through website and its mobile app, available on iPhone and Android.
The latest charges have been registered after a complaint was filed by one of its consumer, who had ordered shoes from Nike, Oakley sunglasses and hair oil from the online shopping site on 15 January.
But as it turned out, all the products delivered were found to be fake, and the buyer confirmed this by checking with a nearby Nike outlet in the city.
In fact, during its early investigation, the police also checked with outlets of the respective brands and found out the complainant was right with their allegations.
Club Factory has been recognised as the ‘Breakout Apps of 2019’ by the reputed State of Mobile report by App Annie. That’s not all, the company claims it has recently surpassed 100 million monthly active users (MAUs) in the country, becoming the third largest shopping app behind Flipkart and Amazon.
These numbers suggest Club Factory has become a popular destination for online shopping for Indian users, but reports of listing fake products and selling them is likely to dither people from using its platform in the near future.
It remains to be seen what will be the company’s next course of action, and whether it will have a counter-argument to prove its innocence, if at all.
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