BFIU seeks account details of Daraz, Priyoshop and 21 others
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Zisan Bin Liaquat
Publish : 03 Nov 2021, 07:50 PMUpdate : 02 Feb 2022, 05:41 PM
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has sought the account information of 23 online marketplaces, including Daraz and PriyoShop, amid an ongoing crackdown by the government on rogue e-commerce shops.
The intelligence unit of the Bangladesh Bank also sought account information of 29 executives linked to the organizations earlier this week.
In this regard, the BFIU has also issued a letter to banks asking to provide financial information of firms, which include Infinity Marketing, Annex Worldwide, Shadhin, Akasnil, Sreshtho.com, Alif World, Bangladesh Deal, and E-shop India.
The government initiated the crackdown on the e-commerce sector following a massive number of complaints against platforms who took money in advance but did not deliver products nor provided refunds, putting several top officials of these shops behind bars.
As part of the crackdown, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had frozen Tk166 crore from several accounts linked to some rogue e-commerce platforms.
After several regulatory measures, the government also formed a new committee to bring all e-commerce firms in Bangladesh under one umbrella to safeguard the interests of the consumers and merchants.
Intelligence departments have also identified 49 e-commerce platforms that have defrauded customers and merchants of thousands of crores of taka, according to AHM Shafiquzzaman, additional commerce secretary and the chief of Digital Commerce Cell (DCC) formed by the Commerce Ministry.
"There might be more such rogue platforms,” he added, without giving any names at a press briefing on Monday.
Legal actions have been recommended against those platforms that have been blacklisted by the Commerce Ministry.
However, Daraz, the leading marketplace of the country, had not been in the ranks of the rogue e-commerce platforms facing the crackdown.
A recent report published by the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) shows that several platforms were able to resolve customer complaints mostly successfully.
The digital platforms are homegrown Pathao, Chaldal, alongside Daraz, Uber and Foodpanda, some of which have heavily invested in ensuring consumer satisfaction through technology, as well as developing human resources, rather than offering discounts or subsidized products.
Among international platforms, Uber, Daraz, and Foodpanda had also topped the list along with Facebook.
Daraz resolved 958 complaints out of 1,051, Foodpanda resolved 251 out of 322, Uber resolved 125 out of 128, and Facebook resolved 4,288 against 4,982, the report said.
Daraz had earlier said that it was acquired by Alibaba with a long-term business plan to establish a sustainable business model along with giving special attention to customer satisfaction.
“Even before the issuance of the SOP, Daraz developed its own internal policies to ensure protection of customers, sellers, and other relevant parties’ interests,” it added.
“In addition, we have an efficient issue resolution team dedicated to resolving customer complaints to give them an incredible experience in online shopping, which in turn enriched customers’ experience and assisted us to resolve customer complaints swiftly. This, in turn, established Daraz as a reliable e-commerce organization,” it had further said.
Shayantani Twisha, head of PR and Communication at Daraz, said: “We have not received any official letters from the authorities. As a law abiding entity, we are happy to extend our cooperation to them.”
Sahab Uddin Shipon, vice-president of e-commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB), said they have not received any discrepancies reported against Daraz.
Daraz is a member of e-CAB, an association that also registers complaints against e-commerce firms.
But a Commerce Ministry official explained that the intelligence units do not only seek information on businesses that have complaints against them.
“As part of regular monitoring protocols, we sometimes seek information on businesses in a random manner,” he added.
BFIU seeks account details of Daraz, Priyoshop and 21 others
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has sought the account information of 23 online marketplaces, including Daraz and PriyoShop, amid an ongoing crackdown by the government on rogue e-commerce shops.
The intelligence unit of the Bangladesh Bank also sought account information of 29 executives linked to the organizations earlier this week.
In this regard, the BFIU has also issued a letter to banks asking to provide financial information of firms, which include Infinity Marketing, Annex Worldwide, Shadhin, Akasnil, Sreshtho.com, Alif World, Bangladesh Deal, and E-shop India.
The government initiated the crackdown on the e-commerce sector following a massive number of complaints against platforms who took money in advance but did not deliver products nor provided refunds, putting several top officials of these shops behind bars.
As part of the crackdown, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had frozen Tk166 crore from several accounts linked to some rogue e-commerce platforms.
After several regulatory measures, the government also formed a new committee to bring all e-commerce firms in Bangladesh under one umbrella to safeguard the interests of the consumers and merchants.
Intelligence departments have also identified 49 e-commerce platforms that have defrauded customers and merchants of thousands of crores of taka, according to AHM Shafiquzzaman, additional commerce secretary and the chief of Digital Commerce Cell (DCC) formed by the Commerce Ministry.
"There might be more such rogue platforms,” he added, without giving any names at a press briefing on Monday.
Legal actions have been recommended against those platforms that have been blacklisted by the Commerce Ministry.
However, Daraz, the leading marketplace of the country, had not been in the ranks of the rogue e-commerce platforms facing the crackdown.
A recent report published by the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) shows that several platforms were able to resolve customer complaints mostly successfully.
The digital platforms are homegrown Pathao, Chaldal, alongside Daraz, Uber and Foodpanda, some of which have heavily invested in ensuring consumer satisfaction through technology, as well as developing human resources, rather than offering discounts or subsidized products.
Among international platforms, Uber, Daraz, and Foodpanda had also topped the list along with Facebook.
Daraz resolved 958 complaints out of 1,051, Foodpanda resolved 251 out of 322, Uber resolved 125 out of 128, and Facebook resolved 4,288 against 4,982, the report said.
Daraz had earlier said that it was acquired by Alibaba with a long-term business plan to establish a sustainable business model along with giving special attention to customer satisfaction.
“Even before the issuance of the SOP, Daraz developed its own internal policies to ensure protection of customers, sellers, and other relevant parties’ interests,” it added.
“In addition, we have an efficient issue resolution team dedicated to resolving customer complaints to give them an incredible experience in online shopping, which in turn enriched customers’ experience and assisted us to resolve customer complaints swiftly. This, in turn, established Daraz as a reliable e-commerce organization,” it had further said.
Shayantani Twisha, head of PR and Communication at Daraz, said: “We have not received any official letters from the authorities. As a law abiding entity, we are happy to extend our cooperation to them.”
Sahab Uddin Shipon, vice-president of e-commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB), said they have not received any discrepancies reported against Daraz.
Daraz is a member of e-CAB, an association that also registers complaints against e-commerce firms.
But a Commerce Ministry official explained that the intelligence units do not only seek information on businesses that have complaints against them.
“As part of regular monitoring protocols, we sometimes seek information on businesses in a random manner,” he added.
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