Friday, 29 March, 2024, 4:27 PM
Advance Search
Home

E-commerce firms owe Tk 5,000cr to customers, traders

19,304 complaints lodged with Consumer Protection Directorate in five and a half years

Published : Saturday, 25 September, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 910

The law enforces are yet to trace out the whereabouts of around Tk 5,000 crore that several e-commerce platforms owe to customers and goods suppliers.
The e-commerce platforms under question are Evaly, E-orange, Alesha Mart, Dhamaka, Sirajganj Shop, Aladiner Prodip, Qcoom, BoomBoom, Adyan Mart and Need.com.bd.
As many as 19,304 complaints were lodged with the National Directorate of Consumer Protection in the e-commerce sector from January 1, 2016 to August this year.
In the last five years, 4,982 complaints were lodged against various Facebook pages involved in online trade.
Considering the complaints lodged with the National Directorate of Consumer Protection, Evaly tops the list, with 7,138 complaints against them. Of these, 4,495 complaints have been settled, according to the National Consumer Rights Protection Directorate.
2,843 against E-Orange, 1,051 against Daraj, 628 against Priyashop.com, 323
against Dhamaka Shopping.
Besides, 2,843 complaints were received against E-orange but only 33 of them have been settled. Five thousand complaints have been lodged against E-orange and Dhamaka Shopping.
On September 14, 2021, it was estimated by e-commerce platform Evaly that its dues to the customers stood at about Tk 311 crore, while its dues to the traders were around Tk 206 crore.
But during interrogation while in detention, Evaly's CEO Mohammad Rassel and his wife Shamima Nasrin, who is chairman of the firm, have admitted that their company's liabilities stand at more than Tk 1,000 crore.
Consumers of troubled e-commerce platform E-orange have lodged a case against its owners with the Gulshan Police Station. As per the case statement, previous owner Sonia Mehjabin, her husband Masukur Rahman, Amanullah, Bithi Akhter and Kawser have been accused of embezzling Tk 1,100 crore.
Law enforcement officials have discovered that e-commerce platform E-orange which is embroiled in embezzlement of funds has only Tk 3,12,14,356 in two of its main bank accounts.
According to a City Bank statement, E-orange received Tk 620,67,20,729 as of July 20 of this year and Tk 620,44,71,992 has already been withdrawn. There are currently only Tk 22,48,737 in the bank account.
Suppliers of Dhamaka have sought the commerce ministry's support to retrieve Tk 200 crore. There are growing allegations of holding customers' money without delivering products.
Under the banner of Dhamaka Shopping Sellers' Association, a group of traders made the allegations at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity last week.
Dhamaka received over Tk 803 crore in payments made in advance by nearly five lakh customers wooed by different offers of hefty discounts, according to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police.
The CID has brought charges against online marketplace Dhamaka Shopping of laundering money worth Tk 1.16 billion.
According to an official of e-commerce platform Aladinerprodip, it has so far provided refunds against 17,000 orders and still had over 8,000 to go.
Sirajganj Shop has so far provided refunds against over 95,000 orders and had over 7,000 more to go, said an official of the e-commerce platform.   
The e-commerce sector had been flooded with complaints relating to product delivery, taking money from customers in advance, fraudulent transactions and embezzlement.  
The CID is also investigating the money laundering allegations against the said e-commerce companies.
Preferring anonymity, a high official of the CID told the Daily Observer that they started investigating after the customers raised different types of allegations against 14 e-commerce firms, particularly Evaly, Dhamaka, Eogrange and Aleshamart.









Latest News
Most Read News
Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Online: 41053014; Advertisement: 41053012.
E-mail: info©dailyobserverbd.com, news©dailyobserverbd.com, advertisement©dailyobserverbd.com, For Online Edition: mailobserverbd©gmail.com
  [ABOUT US]     [CONTACT US]   [AD RATE]   Developed & Maintenance by i2soft