This article is for educational and legal awareness purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice or solicitation. Please consult a qualified advocate for advice on specific legal matters.
Introduction
A shopper searches for a discounted product, clicks a link on social media or a search-engine ad, and lands on a page that looks like a legitimate online store — sometimes an independent-looking storefront, sometimes a page designed to resemble a well-known brand. Payment is made, and then nothing arrives. Or a product does arrive, but it is a counterfeit, a different item altogether, or missing essential parts. The Ministry of Home Affairs, through the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), has repeatedly flagged fake shopping and booking websites — including fraudulent travel and pilgrimage-booking pages — as a recurring fraud pattern operated through fake domains, deceptive social media pages, and paid search advertisements.
This fraud pattern is distinct from UPI-collect-request scams, investment/trading-app frauds, or loan-app harassment, each of which this website has covered separately. Fake shopping website fraud centres on the transaction itself — a purchase that is never fulfilled, or fulfilled dishonestly — and it engages both the criminal law (cheating) and the civil consumer-protection framework built specifically for e-commerce. This article sets out the common patterns, the applicable legal provisions, and the step-by-step procedure to report the fraud and pursue recovery.
Common Patterns of Fake Online Shopping Website Fraud
Non-Delivery (“Ghost Stores”)
A website is set up — often for a short window around a festive sale — offering steep discounts on branded electronics, clothing, or appliances. Orders are accepted and payment is collected, but nothing is ever shipped. The website typically disappears, or stops responding to emails and support tickets, once a critical mass of payments has been collected.
Cloned or Look-Alike Storefronts
Fraudsters register domain names that closely resemble a genuine, well-known retailer’s domain (a misspelling, an added hyphen, or a different top-level domain) and copy the design, logos, and product images of the real business. A buyer who does not check the URL carefully believes they are purchasing from the genuine brand.
Counterfeit or Materially Different Goods
The order is fulfilled, but the product received is a counterfeit, a low-quality imitation, or materially different from what was advertised (wrong brand, wrong specifications, used goods sold as new).
Fake Flash-Sale and Advertisement-Led Scams
Paid advertisements on social media and search engines drive traffic to fraudulent stores advertising countdown-timer mega-discounts designed to rush buyers into paying before they can check the seller, often timed to festive seasons or, as I4C has specifically warned, around high-demand periods such as pilgrimage and travel bookings.
Legal Provisions Applicable
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) — Cheating
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), which replaced the Indian Penal Code with effect from 1 July 2024, defines and punishes cheating in Section 318:
- Section 318(1) defines cheating as fraudulently or dishonestly inducing a person, by deception, to deliver property (or to consent to any person retaining property), where the deception causes or is likely to cause damage or harm.
- Section 318(2) prescribes the base punishment for cheating — imprisonment of either description up to three years, or fine, or both.
- Section 318(3) applies where the offender knew the cheating was likely to cause wrongful loss to a person whose interest they were legally bound to protect — punishable with imprisonment up to five years, or fine, or both.
- Section 318(4) — the provision most directly applicable to a fake shopping site — punishes cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property (i.e., inducing payment for goods with no intention of delivering them, or delivering something other than what was promised) with imprisonment up to seven years and fine. This provision corresponds to Section 420 of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code.
Where the fraudulent site impersonates a genuine, identifiable brand or seller, Section 319 is also relevant: 319(1) defines cheating by personation as cheating by pretending to be another person or entity, and 319(2) punishes it with imprisonment up to five years, or fine, or both.
For offences committed before 1 July 2024, the corresponding IPC provisions (Sections 415, 417, 420, and 419) apply instead.
Information Technology Act, 2000
Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 specifically punishes cheating by personation by using a computer resource or communication device — precisely the mechanism used by a cloned or look-alike fraudulent shopping website — with imprisonment up to three years and fine up to Rs 1 lakh. In practice, complaints and FIRs concerning fake e-commerce sites typically invoke BNS Section 318 (and, where impersonation of a genuine brand is involved, Section 319) together with IT Act Section 66D.
Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the E-Commerce Rules, 2020
Unlike the earlier consumer law, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 expressly brings online transactions within its scope. Section 2(16) defines “e-commerce” as “buying or selling of goods or services including digital products over digital or electronic network,” and Section 2(17) defines an “electronic service provider” as a person who enables a seller to advertise or sell to a consumer, including any online marketplace or auction site. Section 2(47) defines “unfair trade practice” broadly, covering deceptive practices adopted for promoting the sale of goods or services.
Acting under this Act, the Central Government notified the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, which impose specific, enforceable obligations on online sellers:
- Rule 3 distinguishes between an “inventory e-commerce entity” (which owns the goods it sells directly to consumers) and a “marketplace e-commerce entity” (which provides the technology platform connecting independent buyers and sellers, without owning the inventory).
- Rule 4 sets out duties of e-commerce entities generally — prominent disclosure of the entity’s legal name, registered address, and grievance-officer contact details; a prohibition on unfair trade practices; a requirement to acknowledge consumer complaints within 48 hours and redress them within one month; and a bar on charging cancellation fees unless the platform bears equivalent charges itself.
- Rule 5 sets out liabilities of marketplace e-commerce entities, including displaying accurate seller information, maintaining a complaint-tracking mechanism, and disclosing the criteria used to rank sellers or products.
- Rule 6 sets out duties of sellers operating on a marketplace, including entering into a written contract with the platform, appointing their own grievance officer, ensuring advertisements match the actual goods, and accepting returns for defective, misrepresented, or late-delivered goods.
A fraudulent standalone shopping site (as opposed to a registered marketplace seller) will typically not comply with any of these disclosure and grievance-redressal obligations at all — which is itself strong evidence of an unfair trade practice and deficiency of service under the Act, in addition to the underlying criminal fraud.
Where to File a Consumer Complaint
Consumer complaints are filed before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the State Commission, or the National Commission, depending on the value of the goods or services paid as consideration. Under the pecuniary-jurisdiction thresholds notified in December 2021, the District Commission hears complaints up to Rs 50 lakh, the State Commission hears complaints above Rs 50 lakh up to Rs 2 crore, and the National Commission hears complaints above Rs 2 crore. Complaints can be filed online through the government’s consumer-commission e-filing platform, e-Jagriti (e-jagriti.gov.in) — the successor to the earlier e-Daakhil system — without needing to travel to the commission in person.
Consumer Commissions Are Enforcing E-Commerce Accountability
Consumer commissions have shown a willingness to hold online sellers to account where they fail to engage with a genuine grievance. In an order dated 14 July 2026, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Ernakulam (Kerala), ruled against the Gurugram-based online marketplace VLE Bazaar in Santhosh Kumar v. VLE Bazaar (C.C. No. 676/2025). The complainant had ordered wireless earbuds for Rs 359 but received a different, unrelated product; despite repeated follow-up with supporting photographs, the platform did not respond or accept a return. The Commission held that the platform’s failure to appear and contest the complaint amounted to an admission of the allegations, and directed VLE Bazaar to refund Rs 359, pay Rs 5,000 as compensation for mental agony, and pay Rs 3,000 in litigation costs. This case did not involve a cloned or fraudulent website — the seller was a registered marketplace — but it illustrates that the consumer-commission route delivers concrete relief even in modest-value online shopping disputes where a seller stops responding, which is the same non-cooperative pattern victims of frankly fraudulent sites typically encounter.
How to Report and Recover Payment — Step by Step
Step 1 — Preserve Evidence Immediately
Save the order confirmation, payment receipt/UTR number, screenshots of the product listing and website (including its URL), and all correspondence with the seller. Do not delete the app or browser history related to the transaction.
Step 2 — Attempt a Chargeback or Dispute with the Bank/Card Network
Where payment was made by debit or credit card, contact the issuing bank promptly to raise a “goods not received” or “not as described” dispute — card networks operate chargeback mechanisms for exactly this scenario. Where payment was made via UPI, report the transaction to the bank and via the UPI app’s dispute option, though recovery is generally harder once funds have moved to the fraudster’s account.
Step 3 — Call 1930 and File on cybercrime.gov.in
Call the National Cyber Crime Helpline 1930 as soon as the fraud is suspected — early reporting improves the chance of freezing funds before withdrawal. File a detailed complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in) under the financial-fraud category, including the fraudulent website’s URL — the portal has a dedicated feature for reporting suspect URLs, which supports the removal of fraudulent domains.
Step 4 — File an FIR
Approach the local police station or cyber crime cell to file a First Information Report citing BNS Section 318 (and Section 319 where a genuine brand was impersonated) together with IT Act Section 66D. If the police decline to register an FIR, a complaint may be escalated to the Superintendent of Police or to the Judicial Magistrate under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS).
Step 5 — File a Consumer Complaint
If the seller can be identified and traced (a registered marketplace seller, or a non-delivering entity with a discoverable business identity), file a complaint before the appropriate Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission — online via e-Jagriti (e-jagriti.gov.in) — or contact the National Consumer Helpline on 1915 (also reachable via WhatsApp) or through consumerhelpline.gov.in for conciliation before litigation. This route is available even where the criminal investigation into a wholly fraudulent, untraceable website makes little headway, provided a legally identifiable respondent can be named.
Reporting in Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh
Residents of Lucknow may additionally approach the UP Cyber Crime Police Station near the Fire Station, Sri Balmiki Marg, Hazratganj, Lucknow — 226001, or any local police station, which is obligated to register the complaint and, where necessary, transfer it to the cyber crime unit. Every district in Uttar Pradesh has a designated cyber police station, and complaints may also be tracked via the UP Cyber Police Portal (cyberpolice.uppolice.gov.in). None of this displaces the national 1930 helpline and cybercrime.gov.in portal, which remain the fastest route to trigger a fund freeze.
Prevention Tips
- Check the URL carefully before entering payment details — look for misspellings, unusual domain extensions, and the absence of “https” security.
- Verify unusually steep discounts by checking whether the same offer appears on the brand’s official website or verified social media handles.
- Prefer platforms and sellers with visible, verifiable grievance-officer and contact details, as required under the E-Commerce Rules, 2020 — their absence is itself a red flag.
- Use payment methods that support dispute resolution (cards over direct bank transfer) where possible, since chargeback mechanisms offer a recovery route that a one-way transfer does not.
- Be sceptical of paid advertisements on social media offering deep discounts on branded goods, particularly around festive seasons and high-demand travel periods, which I4C has flagged as a common vector for fake booking and shopping sites.
Important Points to Remember
- A fake or non-delivering shopping site engages BNS Section 318 (cheating; up to seven years where property is dishonestly induced to be delivered) and, where a genuine brand is impersonated, Section 319 (cheating by personation) together with IT Act Section 66D.
- The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 impose specific disclosure and grievance-redressal duties on e-commerce entities and sellers — their absence supports both a consumer complaint and the criminal case.
- Report immediately: 1930 helpline, cybercrime.gov.in, and a written dispute with the bank/card issuer, in that order of urgency.
- A consumer complaint can be filed online via e-Jagriti, without needing a lawyer or in-person appearance, where the seller is identifiable.
- A person uncertain about which remedy to pursue, or how to draft a complaint, may consider consulting a qualified advocate.
Useful Resources
- National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal — File complaints and report suspect URLs
- National Consumer Helpline — Toll-free 1915, conciliation before litigation
- e-Jagriti — Online filing before Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions
- UP Cyber Police — UP-specific cyber crime reporting
- Indian Kanoon — Search Indian statutes and case law
Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is for general legal awareness and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice, advertisement, or solicitation. No reader should act or refrain from acting based on this information without seeking professional legal counsel. Advocate Akhil Singh and this website are not liable for any actions taken based on the content provided herein.