An FIR has been lodged against Chinese e-commerce company Club Factory and its directors Jialun Li and Garvit Aggarwal and Chief Financial Officer Ashwini Rastogi for allegedly selling "fake" products of well-known brands on its platform.

The complaint has been lodged at the Wazirganj police station by a Lucknow resident, Alok Kakkad, IANS reported. The complainant alleged Club Factory that sold fake products of famous brands at cheaper prices in order to gain customers and earn more profit.

In his complaint, he said he recently bought a Titan watch and Ray-Ban sunglasses from the website at up to 90 per cent discount. He received the order on November 25, and to his surprise both the products turned out to be fake.

When he contacted the company's customer care, he did not get a proper response. The website showed Mahakaal Enterprises and Perfect Times as the sellers of these products. Thereafter, he contacted the customer cares of Titan and Ray-Ban, and both denied having any connection with Club factory, he told the police.

According to the complainant, when he contacted the company customer care on its toll-free number, its representative allegedly hurled verbal abuses at him and threatened with dire consequences.

Meanwhile, the police have lodged a case under Sectio 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code against the company. Its directors and the grievance officer have also been booked under Sections 420, 406, 506 and 120-B for cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation.

The Indian industry has complained several times to the government that some Chinese e-tailers, including Club Factory, sell counterfeit products to earn higher profits. India has been a lucrative market for such Chinese e-commerce companies. In September last year, Club Factory said in a statement that India accounted for around 57 per cent of its over 70 million worldwide user base.

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