200 ‘fraud’ e-commerce companies under DIPP radar

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200 ‘fraud’ e-commerce companies under DIPP radarWe all have come across e-commerce websites selling high-end products at one-tenth of the price, claiming it to be original. Don’t fall in the trap as it might be another fraud website, which might not even exist and you may end up losing all your money.
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The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has received numerous such complaints and have now zeroed down to 200 such companies, suspected to be fraud e-commerce sites. Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharam told ET the department will coordinate with state governments and the ministry will address the issue.

In a recent meeting of the consumer affairs ministry, DIPP and NITI Aayog, it was decided all complaints by consumers regarding the fraud e-commerce companies will be acknowledged and addressed within two days via Twitter.

"Our department does not deal with consumer complaints. However, this issue is complicated as many of the companies in question seem non-existent. We will look into it together with the consumer affairs ministry," Sitharaman told ET.

She has asked the consumer affairs ministry to set up a grievance redressal cell along with the commerce ministry for ecommerce-related issues and queries.

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The names of the 200 suspected companies have not been shared by the ministry yet. Apart from online shoppers, few offline retailers and their associations have also registered complaints in this matter.

"We had held a meeting with the Enforcement Directorate as well on this matter...ecommerce companies were also asked if they were operating in an inventory and not the marketplace model," Sitharaman told ET.

E-commerce companies are only supposed to be a platform for buyers and seller and should strictly stick to a business-to-business model.

(Image Credits: Indiatimes)