According to law enforcement agencies and different consumer associations, more than Tk 3600 crore is stuck with different e-commerce organizations.
According to various departments, dozens of e-commerce companies have held up crores of taka of customers. No one knows how the money will be recovered.
One after another, e-commerce companies are being accused of embezzling customer money. Among them, there are Evaly, Dhamaka Shopping, e-Orange, Nirapada.com, Qcom and SPC World. According to law enforcement, the six companies have embezzled at least Tk 3,600 crore.
According to different sources, E-commerce company Dhamaka has taken Tk 803.51 crore from five lakh customers in a year, ring ID director had taken Tk 231 crore, 24ticket.com took Tk 4.44 crore, qcom and SPC had taken Tk 518 crore, Sirajganjshop and Aladdiner Prodip collected Tk 205 crore in advance against about 4.5 lakh orders, Evaly’s liability is more than Tk 1000 crore, eorange took Tk 1100 crore.
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The country’s e-commerce has achieved tremendous success in the last decade, but due to the greed of some dishonest businessmen, the sector is under threat. In the meantime, huge numbers of consumers have invested their money in those e-commerce platforms, from where they do not get anything but uncertainty. Some of these organization owners and officials either have left the country or some of those owners have been caught red-handed by law enforcement.
Neither the government nor the e-commerce representative organizations had any oversight over the policies and business practices of the e-commerce sector. Although there are various suggestions for enacting new laws, the organizations are also reluctant to give advice to the victims on getting back money.
When asked, general secretary of e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) Muhammad Abdul Wahed Tomal told Bangladesh Post, “We cannot exactly specify the figure that is stuck in different e-commerce sites. Government organizations may have the right information. We are suspending e-cab memberships based on customer allegations”.
Spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, Md. Serajul Islam told Bangladesh Post, “If any company transacts money without license from us, we cannot have control on them. Till now, how much money those e-commerce companies have taken, we have no report.”
IT expert Muhammad Mahbub Ali told Bangladesh Post, “The government has to act responsibly regarding repaying those amounts of money to the customers and merchants. On the other hand, if allegations against those e-commerce companies are proved, they will have to bring them under strict punishment. Besides, a free and fair environment is needed for e-commerce to grow further in the country.”
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According to various sources, between 2008 and 2019, customers lost Tk 4,100 crore in different companies. According to Bangladesh Bank, the commission formed on the Jubok incident, law enforcement investigations, the Department of Cooperatives, and information provided by customers, at least 300 companies have embezzled Tk 20,000 crores from customers in the last one and half decades.
Cases have been filed in these incidents. In some cases, the accused have gone into hiding. But the customers did not get their money back. No one knows when they will get the hard-earned money back.
The e-commerce market in the country was USD 1.5 billion. This year it was expected to reach USD two billion and in 2023, at 3 billion dollars. But the current situation has dilapidated the sector.
