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Spoofed text messages lure customers to betting links, disrupt Bengaluru wholesale e-commerce firm’s operations
Hiveloop Technology Pvt Ltd (HTPL), part of the Udaan group, has reported significant financial losses and reputational damage, with at least 13 people confirmed to have received the fraudulent SMSes.
HTPL began receiving alerts from buyers on April 23, flagging SMSes that appeared to originate from “Udaan”. (Representational image)
The Bengaluru police booked unknown people on Monday for allegedly sending fraudulent messages in the name of an e-commerce platform with promises of cash rewards. The messages allegedly brought the company’s communication systems to a standstill.
The Whitefield division cybercrime police registered the FIR based on a complaint filed by a representative of Hiveloop Technology Pvt Ltd (HTPL), part of the Udaan group, a business-to-business, wholesale e-commerce platform.
As per the FIR, the company began receiving alerts from buyers on April 23, flagging SMSes that appeared to originate from “Udaan”. The messages promised a credit of Rs 10,001 and carried shortened links, which, upon clicking, allegedly redirected users to an online betting or gaming platform, raising red flags of a wider cyber fraud operation.
HTPL denied sending the messages, stating that its communication system is tightly regulated under the distributed ledger technology (DLT), a government-regulated telecom framework overseen by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). This framework permits only pre-approved templates and whitelisted links to be sent through its registered channels.
However, on April 27, the DLT system blacklisted HTPL’s SMS templates citing misuse, and its sender ID “UDAANN” was suspended. Telecom operators subsequently blocked all outgoing messages from the company, including critical OTPs and transaction alerts, effectively cutting off its ability to communicate with customers. By the end of the day, its entire DLT account was suspended after complaints were flagged on Trai’s Chakshu platform.
Since then, the company’s SMS-based services have not functioned, disrupting business operations and customer interactions. The firm has reported significant financial losses and reputational damage, with at least 13 people confirmed to have received the fraudulent messages, and fears that the number could be higher.
The police said the incident also pointed to the misuse of a government-regulated telecom framework.
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Investigators are working to trace the origin of the messages. “We have registered a case and are investigating,” an officer said.
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