Reimbursing e-commerce clients progresses at snail pace

The Ministry of Commerce has asked the police headquarters for providing them updates over the cases filed against a number of rogue e-commerce companies by the individual victims so that other clients could be redeemed.

Sales proceeds worth several hundred crore taka have been stuck in between the payment gateways or escrow accounts as some rogue e-commerce platforms cheated their clients of advances and abruptly stopped business, officials said.

A letter has been sent to the police headquarters from the e-commerce cell of the Commerce ministry to this end, a commerce ministry official said.

“After receiving the police updates, the customers who did not sue will get back the money stuck in the payment gateways. But, buyers who had lodged lawsuits against their failing e-commerce companies will not be reimbursed until their cases are settled by the respective courts,” the official, requesting anonymity, told Business Insider Bangladesh, on Tuesday.

Several months have elapsed since Bangladesh Banks instructed digital payment gateways and e-commerce companies to redeem their clients’ wallets as ordered products were not delivered accordingly. Since then, various government agencies are holding meetings and writing letters to each other on how to reimburse.

After a meeting of the government’s technical committee on e-commerce at the Commerce Ministry, AHM Safiquzzaman, Additional Secretary and also the coordinator of the high level committee on E-Commerce, told the newsmen that the customers are going to get back their money following the police update.

Safiquzzaman said: “On the basis of that information, Bangladesh Bank (BB) will instruct the payment gateways to re-remit the money to the respective e-commerce clients.”

It could not be known whether gateway-money would be enough to pay all the clients. It could not also be known how much money the rogue companies owe their clients.

Gateways are holding about Tk 214 crore and official procedures will begin when Bangladesh Bank instructs financial authorities and the e-commerce companies to reimburse the money to the respective clients.

It is worth citing here that the central bank has already instructed the payment gateways to start refunding the money stuck in the escrow accounts but cases filed by the clients were slowing down progress to this end.

Of those gateways, BB sent letters to digital money transaction companies such as Nagad, Software Shop Limited, Suryamukhi Limited, Foster Corporation, Bkash Limited and Southeast Bank Limited. In the meantime, the Commerce Ministry sent a letter to Bangladesh Bank last week asking it to take initiatives to reimburse the clients.

Meanwhile, the law and enforcement agencies have been taking action against most of the bad e-commerce companies who received payments but did not deliver products.

Those products include expensive mobile phones, AC, fridge and other electronics and even motorbikes. The rogue companies offered a whopping discounts on their products to lure clients but did not deliver most products. When these events rattled the policy makers, cases were lodged and e-commerce trade stumbled a few months ago.

A good number of citizens depended on digital companies for supplies amid Covid-19 pandemic when physical distancing and lockdown was enforced across the country.

Cases are pending in the court on various charges including fraudulent check-writing and fraudulent activities by evali, e-Orange, Dhamaka, Cucom and Dalal Plus.

Top notches of these organizations have been arrested and some of them are in jail. Again, many have gone into hiding.