A Bombay High Court judge has ordered WhatsApp to act on complaints about fake groups impersonating DBS Bank India and offering fraudulent investment advice, holding that intermediaries cannot wait for court orders before removing such content under India’s IT Rules.
In an April 21 order, Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh granted interim relief to DBS Bank India in a suit alleging that fraudsters were using WhatsApp groups, fake websites, forged SEBI certificates, and fake employee identities to pose as bank officials and cheat users into making investments. The court also directed the suspension of several domains allegedly linked to the scam.
Fake investment groups using the DBS name: DBS Bank told the court that unknown individuals had been contacting people through phone calls and WhatsApp groups using the bank’s name and the profile photo of its CEO, Rajat Varma, to promote fake stock market and investment schemes. According to the bank, victims were redirected to fraudulent websites and apps and were shown forged documents to create legitimacy.
The bank cited multiple complaints, including one from a person who allegedly lost Rs 11 lakh after fraudsters asked him to invest through a platform called “DBS Securities Foreign Investment Account”. In another case, fraudsters allegedly convinced a complainant to invest over Rs 10 lakh by promising profits of Rs 63 lakh. The court also noted that fraudsters allegedly duped a retired police officer of Rs 8 crore through a WhatsApp group using the DBS name, after which he allegedly attempted suicide.
WhatsApp’s argument on encryption and court orders: WhatsApp argued that its platform uses end-to-end encryption and that it cannot view message content. Senior Advocate Vivek Reddy, appearing for WhatsApp, told the court that blocking an account removes the entire account and not just specific content. He argued against a “blanket injunction” and said DBS should approach the court separately for each infringing group identified in the future.
Reddy also argued that “actual knowledge” under Section 79 of the IT Act arises only through “an order of the Court of competent jurisdiction or by a reasoned intimation by an authorised officer of the appropriate Government or its agency”.
The court rejected this argument, pointing instead to the grievance redressal mechanism under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The court said intermediaries are expected to act on complaints received through their grievance systems and cannot insist on court orders in every case.
“It is therefore, unacceptable that the intermediary can act only if there is an order of Court of competent jurisdiction in respect of a specified group,” the court said.
Court says delayed action can cause irreversible harm: The court also observed that WhatsApp had previously removed some reported links even before the court passed any judicial order, showing that the platform can independently act on complaints.
Calling delayed responses dangerous in fraud cases, the court said, “time is of essence as delayed reaction is likely to cause irreversible loss to the victims.”
The order comes as WhatsApp faces growing scrutiny over scam networks operating on its platform. In a status report filed before the Supreme Court last week, the Ministry of Home Affairs said WhatsApp had banned 9,400 accounts linked to digital arrest scams since January 2026. The government has previously reported blocking over 59,000 WhatsApp accounts in December 2024 and 83,000 accounts by March 2025 in connection with similar fraud operations.
The order directs WhatsApp to remove or disable reported groups, accounts, and content within the timelines prescribed under the IT Rules after receiving complaints from DBS, along with screenshots and identifying details. The court also directed disclosure of subscriber information linked to the alleged fraudsters and ordered the blocking of multiple domains allegedly involved in the impersonation campaign.
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