Shawdesh Desk:

Dishonest businessmen are cheating Eid shoppers by delivering poor quality and used garments to customers after offering big discounts.

If any customer protests against the cheat, such businessmen misbehave with them.

The Directorate of National Consumers’ Right Protection (DNCRP) is conducting drives, but failing to check the fraudulence.

A housewife, Khadiza, who came to a market at Madhya Badda in the capital on April 15, was searching for jeans pants for her husband.

Finally, she bought jeans pants from a makeshift shop in Madhya Badda for Tk 500.

After returning home with a joyful mind, she gave the pants to her husband. When he opened it from the packet, he found that it was old and used.

The old pants were coloured and hand tags were set with it. Khadiza told the Daily Sun that she went to the makeshift and asked the seller to change it, but he (seller) paid no heed.

A police officer said a man gave an order online to buy a cloth from an e-commerce platform about three days ago. When he received the parcel, he paid its price.  After opening it, he was astonished as the cloth was torn.

Later, the victim filed a General Diary (GD) with Paltan Model Police Station in this regard.

Madhushudhan Das, assistant commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told the Daily Sun that they received a number of such kinds of complaints over the last few days.

Monjur Mohammad Shariar, director (additional charge) of the DNCRP, told the Daily Sun that they were regularly conducting drives so that Eid shoppers can be saved from fraudulence.

He also said they could not carry out raids massively due to manpower shortage.

On Sunday, DB Lalbagh Division arrested five persons from a flat at Hazaribagh for delivering poor quality and torn garments to customers.

Acting on information that a saree worth Tk 1,600-1,700 was being sold at Tk 17,000-20,000, the DNCRP raided Mirpur Banarasi Palli on Saturday.

During the raid, about 200 persons, including businessmen and their workers, demonstrated against the drive.

Finally, the DNCRP fined Mitu Katan Saree and Tawsip Benasari Fashion Tk 40,000.

IRO Fashion on New Elephant Road offered 50 percent discounts on different panjabis to attract customers.

The DNCRP raided the shop on Sunday and fined Tk 1 lakh for cheating customers in the name of discount.

A price tag reading Tk 2,490 was set with a panjabi, but its real price was only Tk 1,190.

Detective police arrested five suspected fraudsters from Hazaribagh area in the capital on Sunday.

They allegedly took orders on different garments through their online sites, but delivered poor quality and torn clothes.

The arrestees are Bappi Hasan, Ariful alias Harisul, Sohag Hossain, Biplob Sheikh and Nur Mohammad. They all hail from Narail.

Razib Al Masud, deputy commissioner of Lalbagh DB Division, provided the information at DMP media centre in the capital on Monday.

The arrestees with their other cohorts opened 21 facebook pages and circulated selling of different products with a big discount, he said.

When anybody gave an order, they gave delivery of the products through courier services, he said.

A customer had to take a product by paying its price, said the officer.

When a customer opened the parcel, he or she was astonished seeing torn or very poor quality clothes.

If any customer contacts them, they misbehave with him or her, the DC said.

The arrestees used to send 100 to 150 parcels every day. They earned Tk 20-30 lakh every month by cheating customers, said the DB officer, adding that they had been committing the crime for the last five to six years.

Razib Al Masud said, “Some dishonest staffers of SA Paribahan have link with the cheats. The staffers have paid Tk 50 against each parcel.”