Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF), which markets the popular Amul brand of milk and dairy products has sent a legal notice to online search engine company Google India and internet domain registrar godaddy.com for carrying paid advertisements for Amul fake websites.
According to the reports, Amul has issued a legal notice on January 10 to Google India after they found that some fake websites have been indulging fraudulent B2B campaigns regarding Amul parlours and distributors that started through fake websites using Google search ads since September 2018. Amul has also issued a legal notice to web hosting firm goDaddy.com for the same.
“We have served a notice to Google India for carrying paid advertisements for Amul fake websites. As per fake websites, customers have to pay money Rs 3 to 6 lakhs to get Amul franchise. We’ve filed FIR also,” said RS Sodhi, Managing Director of Amul.
Earlier, Amul had raised the issue with Google India and sought their help to stop such “miscreants” from using their platform through paid advertisements. However, no action was taken against the complaints of Amul.
The GCMMF in a release said, “Miscreants have been running paid ads on Google Search engine against keywords such as Amul Franchisee, Amul Parlour, and Amul Distributor among others, with the intent of duping individuals with fake promises of business opportunities with Amul.”
Amul accused some individuals and organisations of running paid advertisements on Google platform using keywords such as ‘Amul Franchisee’, ‘Amul Parlor’ and ‘Amul Distributor’. The fake websites were reportedly scamming people by asking them to fill a form and pay them a “registration fee” ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 5 lakh. Once the money was paid, these fake websites would stop communicating with them, said Amul.
Reportedly, Google India works as a ‘non-exclusive re-seller’ of Google LLC`s AdWords program in India. The notice on fraudulent practices was issued on January 10. Google India is yet to respond to this.