A couple of days before the CPD webinar, the e-commerce sector in Bangladesh came to the limelight in connection with a huge scam of certain e-commerce ventures. Customers paid advances but the companies failed to deliver their products and refund their payments. Even before this revelation, there were red flags regarding the integrity of some online businesses which have been conducting e-commerce. The quality and price of products, delay in delivery of products to customers, difficulty in returning products, risk of not getting refunds, and overall quality of customer service have been the common complaints against a number of companies. The most talked-about company among the lot seemed to have performed every trick to cheat its customers and siphoned off a large amount of money by not refunding customers’ advance payments, even though they failed to deliver goods for a long time.

This whole episode of huge fraud by a widely promoted e-commerce platform even by some of the country’s respected media has shaken not only the integrity of the company itself, but also of those which have been advertising the services of the company. Of course, in a welcome move, a reputed financial transaction company has immediately disassociated itself with this fraudulent e-commerce platform.