E-commerce company Qcoom is starting to refunds stuck money to its consumers. Bangladesh Bank has instructed the banks to return their money from January 25. In the first phase, six thousand consumers will get this money back. Bangladesh Bank has allowed a permission of Tk 59 crore for this.
The program started on Monday (January 24) with the return of Tk 4 million to 20 consumers. Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh handed over the money to the consumers in the meeting room of the Commerce Ministry.
Bangladesh Bank has taken such a decision in the meeting yesterday. The matter has been confirmed by MD. Sirajul Islam, Executive Director and Spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank. “Initially, a permission of Tk 59 crore is being allowed. About 6,000 consumers will get their money back,” he said.
It is learned that the consumers had placed an order for the purchase of the product from e-commerce company Qcoom. For this, they have paid some money against the price of the product. But due to financial scandals, Qcoom’s commercial activities were shut down.
It is learned that the money will be refunded through the payment gateway Foster. Bangladesh Bank has instructed various banks on this. The Ministry of Commerce has also stated that the money will be returned to Qcoom.
It is learned that the clearance of the police intelligence department was taken after the order of the high court. According to him, the money is being refunded to the consumers of Qcoom.
Incidentally, on January 10, Qcoom and their payment gateway Foster reported to the Ministry of Commerce that they had agreed to refund Tk 59 crore against the purchase order of 721 customers. With this payment gateway, the amount of money stuck by Qcoom is Tk 397 crore.
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Qcoom, an e-commerce company, was established in 2019 to sell products online. The company has been accused of offering products at a lower price than the market price, even with money from customers. Then came the issue of money laundering.
The company was shut down after customer complaints. On the other hand, Foster, a payment gateway company, was in charge of QCoom’s product supply and money transactions. Then all the bank accounts of Foster as well as Qcoom were suspended. As a result, Tk 397 crore of Qcoom is stuck near payment gateway Foster. Of this, buyers have at least Tk 166 crore, against which the e-commerce company has not delivered the goods. The money is stuck in Foster’s confiscated bank account.
According to the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, customers have deposited Tk 790 crore in six accounts of Qcoom. The balance of these suspended accounts is Tk 2.97 crore. The company withdrew the rest of the money.
For a long time, the money paid for the purchase of goods has been stuck with Qcoom. The consumers became angry. The Ministry of Commerce took the initiative to compile a list in response to their demands. For this, an organization called Foster was instructed to submit the list. The list was asked to be submitted by January 10. According to him, Foster submits the consumers list.
Now the company will return the money in phases as per the list. The whole matter will be overseen by the Ministry of Commerce and Bangladesh Bank.
So far, more than 10 online companies have been suspended on charges of financial scams and money laundering. As a result, the emerging sector under the leadership of local entrepreneurs was questioned from the very beginning. Now the Ministry of Commerce has taken steps to restore order in the online sector.