RIDING on expanding high speed internet facility in the country, some mountebank people have made the e-commerce platforms a safe place for their cheating business. This daily carried a report on Tuesday that stated some online e-commerce sites have been providing substandard, even worthless, products to the customers in exchange of lavish money. The frauds regularly advertise several lucrative and unique items in their websites or Facebook pages to attract customers and openly asked to use Visa Card or advance payment for order, which empower them to make the customers easy victims. The government has no e-commerce policy to regulate the business so everybody engaged in e-commerce business knows that he is free to do his business in any way he likes.The Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh (CAB) is designated for protecting consumers’ rights, but the association has no trained officials, particularly in IT based e-commerce, to know what is happening in this sector.Quoting several victims’ story, this daily said that online sellers are conducting trade via Facebook just using a major platform where all details and particulars of the offers to sale products and goods remained missing. One victim said after watching pictures of branded wristwatch, he made an order but when ordered item come to his doorstep he found it a counterfeited item. Another victim said, she bought an ornament from another online shop with six months warranty, but the ornament’s colour went out in the very first day. Similar sufferings are not uncommon as youths and busiest citizens are increasingly becoming customers of the e-commerce sites. Several government platforms, including government’s ICT Division, has taken e-commerce facilitating projects and a good number of e-commerce sites are trustworthy, but rising number of fraudulent incidents will ruin the growth of the sector at its embryonic level.The CAB Chairman said buyers are reportedly being cheated from the online shops as they are supplying inferior quality products. The buyers are receiving something worthless than they expect from such shops as offered by them. The former chief of Anti-Corruption Commission, now heads CAB, called upon the government to bring the online shopping under a regulatory framework to protect interest of the consumers. The online shops must have registration from the concerned government agencies prior to initiating their business.According to the Ministry of Commerce, the government is concerned with the fraudulent incidents and policy is likely soon, though consumers’ awareness is the ultimate shield from the trap of e-frauds. The most disappointing aspect is that those who are in charge of saving the general public have very little interest in knowing what is going on.The truth is that we cannot depend on the government as it does not have accountability to the people. We welcome the new entrepreneurs but at the same time they must, on their own, inculcate the virtues of honesty.New technology must be used for progress of the country and the country belongs to us all.
