FIR filed after tech firm alleges SMS spoofing fraud

An FIR has been registered against unknown people for allegedly sending fraudulent messages in the name of an e-commerce platform with promises of cash rewards, further disrupting its operations, police said on Wednesday.

The offence is said to have taken place between April 23 and April 27, they said.

A representative of city-based technology company Hiveloop Technology Pvt Ltd (HTPL), part of the Udaan group (eB2B platform), has lodged a complaint alleging a large-scale SMS spoofing fraud, following which a detailed investigation has been initiated into the matter, a senior police officer said. According to the FIR, HTPL is a registered entity on the TRAI-mandated DLT platform, which permits only pre-approved SMS templates and whitelisted URLs to be sent through authorised sender IDs. The issue came to light on April 23, when HTPL received alerts from buyers about fraudulent SMS messages appearing to originate from the company’s sender ID “UDAANN”. The messages reportedly contained Bitly links and falsely claimed a credit of Rs 10,001, urging recipients to withdraw money, it said.

On April 27, at around 12:49 pm, the DLT platform blacklisted HTPL’s SMS templates, citing their alleged use in sending fraudulent messages. Within minutes, the company’s sender ID was also blacklisted. Airtel’s DLT system subsequently confirmed the action and shared details of the fraudulent messages that were circulated in HTPL’s name without its knowledge or consent, the FIR stated.

Following this, the company’s messaging operations were affected, and even legitimate communications, such as one-time passwords to buyers, began failing. Later, the DLT operator suspended HTPL’s entire account following complaints raised on TRAI’s Chakshu platform, bringing all SMS services of the company to a halt, it further stated.