Lok Sabha Question No. 4669 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-24
Subject: Online Shopping Scams
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Badruddin Ajmal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT FOR PROMOTION OF INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL TRADE

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4669. TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 24 TH  MARCH, 2021.

## ONLINE SHOPPING SCAMS

## 4669.  SHRI M. BADRUDDIN AJMAL:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY be pleased to state:

## वाणिज्य  एवं उद्योग मंत्री

- (a) whether it is true that there is a sharp increase in online shopping scams in the country as more people have started preferring e-commerce;
- (b) if so, the number of such fraud cases during the last three years and the current year;
- (c) the number of such cases in percentage which were solved protecting consumers' rights and punishing Prowdsters;
- (d) the  measures  taken/mechanism  adopted  by  the  Government  to  stop  fraud  in online shopping and the details of the punishment in Indian laws for such frauds;
- (e) the  extent  to  which  the  National  Consumer  Helpline  (NCH)  is  active  and  the manner in which it works to help consumers who are victims of online scams?

## ANSWER

## वाणिज्य  एवं उद्योग मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री (श्री सोम प्रकाश) THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI SOM PARKASH)

- (a) & (b): The Department of Consumer Affairs has set up a National Consumer Helpline (NCH)  to  attend  to  consumer  grievances.  NCH  takes  up  the  consumer grievances  with  the  companies  concerned  for  resolution  by  them.  On  an average, it receives 70,000 grievances per month. As per information received from NCH, details of grievances received during the last three years along with current year relating to online fraud is given below:
- (c): 'Police'  and  'Public  Order'  are  State  subjects  under the Constitution of India. States/UTs  are  primarily  responsible  for  prevention,  detection,  investigation

| Period              | Online fraud grievances registered   | Total Grievances   | %of Online fraud grievances of the total grievance   |
|---------------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------|------------------------------------------------------|
| Apr 2017 - Mar 2018 | 356                                  | 4,55,029           | 0.078%                                               |
| Apr 2018 - Mar 2019 | 531                                  | 5,65,579           | 0.093%                                               |
| Apr 2019 - Mar 2020 | 1,119                                | 7,41,094           | 0.15%                                                |
| Apr 2020 - Feb 2021 | 967                                  | 6,14,285           | 0.157%                                               |

and prosecution of crimes including cyber crime through their law enforcement machinery. The Law Enforcement Agencies take legal action as per provisions of  law  against  the  cyber  crime  offenders.  Therefore,  in  cases  of  grievances regarding online frauds, the National Consumer Helpline advises the complainants to approach the local police.

- (d): Under  the  provisions  of  the  Consumer  Protection  Act,  2019,  E-Commerce Rules, 2020 have been notified by Central Government for prevention of unfair trade practice in e-commerce and protection of the interest and rights of the consumers. These Rules require e-Commerce entities to establish adequate grievance redressal mechanisms and redress the complaint within one month from the date of receipt.

Furthermore,  under  the  Consumer  Protection  Act,  a  three  tier  quasi-judicial mechanism  has  been  set  up  at  District,  State  and  Central  levels  for  better protection  of  the  interests  of  consumers  and  to  provide  simple  and  speedy redressal of consumer disputes including online frauds.

The Government has also launched the online National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, www.cybercrime.gov.in to enable citizens to report complaints pertaining to all types of cyber crimes. A toll-free helpline no. 155260 has been made  operational  in all States/UTs  to  assist citizens in lodging online complaints on the Portal in their own language.

To strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and  coordinated  manner,  the  Central  Government  has  taken  steps  for spreading awareness  about  cyber  crimes; issuance of alerts/advisories; capacity  building/training  of  law  enforcement  personnel/prosecutors/  judicial officers; improving cyber forensic facilities; etc.

Primarily,  the  provisions  under  Indian  Penal  Code,  1860  and  Information Technology  Act,  2000  provide  for  punishment  for  activities  relating  to  such frauds.

- (e): NCH provides an automated grievance redressal platform www.consumerhelpline.gov.in for consumers to register their grievances. It has partnered  with  more  than  600  companies  as  part  of  the  'Convergence' programme  for  effective  resolution  of  the  grievances  of  the  consumers. Complaints  against  those  companies,  who  have  not  partnered  with  National Consumer  Helpline,  are  forwarded  to  the  company's  email  id  available  on public  domain  for  redressal.  NCH  also  advice  consumers  on  multitude  of problems arising in day-to-day dealings with business and service providers. It generates  proper  awareness  among  consumers  in  order  to  educate  them, empower them by protecting themselves from exploitation and also to induce efficiency, transparency and accountability into the entire system.

Further,  to  cater  to  the  needs  of  consumers  of  different  regions,  six  Zonal Consumer  Helplines  have  been  set  up  each  at  Ahmedabad,  Bengaluru, Kolkata,  Jaipur,  Guwahati  &  Patna  to  attend  to  consumer  grievances  in regional languages.

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