E-commerce firms must pay back their customers

We are concerned at the way the government is dealing with the issue of e-commerce scams. Its efforts are mostly limited to preventing possible cons in the future, while tens of thousands of customers and merchants are yet to get any assurance of compensation from the government. As of now, we have seen no visible initiatives on part of the government to realise the money from the e-commerce firms to refund the victims. While the commerce ministry is saying that there is little scope for them to recover the money under our law, according to legal experts, the ministry can constitute a board or appoint administrators to run the errant companies who will work to refund the money to customers and vendors.

Reportedly, the commerce ministry has formed three committees and published standard operating procedures in a bid to stop future fraudulent activities by the e-commerce platforms and to safeguard the interests of consumers and merchants. The question is: Will that be enough? Should the government also not come up with specific plans to recover the funds?

The government is reportedly planning to assign agencies such as the National Board of Revenue and Bangladesh Bank to find out ways to recover the money from these fraudulent e-commerce firms. We think the sooner they do that, the better for the victims, especially given how delayed action may fail to curb the threat of their money being laundered abroad.

Recently, the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) has imposed fines on 17 e-commerce firms for failing to deliver products as promised and also for deceiving customers through false advertisements. Sadly, they could not fine big firms like Evaly, E-orange and Dhamaka Shopping because of some limitations in our law—the DNCRP can impose a maximum fine of Tk 50,000 and jail the offenders for a maximum of one year, or both. And this meagre amount of fine or jail time is just not enough for these big fraudulent companies. Therefore, there is an urgent need to bring some amendments to the law.

Some of the consumers have reportedly filed cases against Evaly, E-orange and other firms and are awaiting the court's directive to recover their lost money. While the court will give its decision in due time, the government should also focus more on recovering the money so that the consumers and merchants can be compensated adequately. Recovering the money may still be possible through tracking the transactions of consumers and merchants to the e-commerce companies, experts believe. The government should consider doing this.