December 2022

India launched a crackdown on Monday against fake consumer reviews and unverified ratings in a bid to make the online world and e-commerce more authentic and less misleading for users. The government has drafted guidelines for companies from Alphabet Inc’s Google, Meta Platform’s Facebook and Instagram, and Amazon.com Inc to travel sites and food delivery apps that depend on reviews to validate products and services. Positive reviews help generate sales and interest from potential buyers. Some companies have been criticised by consumers and industry experts for downplaying negative reviews, or accepting fake ratings, making the vetting process difficult for buyers. The named companies did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment. “Feedback mechanisms such as reviews are essential for consumer interest. We welcome the steps being taken by the government … and are obliged to be a part of the constituted committee,” said a spokesperson for Zomato. The Department of Consumer Affairs set up a committee in June to develop a framework for checking fake and deceptive reviews in e-commerce, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said. “The new guidelines for online reviews are designed to drive increased transparency for both consumers and brands and promote information accuracy,” said Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles, a community platform and pollster which made the initial submission to the Department of Consumer Affairs and was part of the committee drafting the guidelines. “As far as platforms like Google and Facebook go, the new rules will require them to validate the real person behind the review through specified 6-8 mechanisms which means fake accounts created just for review writing will go away over time or won’t be able to review,” said Taparia. Full details of the proposal are not yet public. “We do not want to bulldoze this. We will first see voluntary compliance of these guidelines. And if we see the menace continues to grow we may make this mandatory,” Rohit Kumar Singh, secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, told reporters in New Delhi. The Bureau of Indian Standards will assess compliance, the ministry said. Online companies say they have internal checks in place to combat fake reviews, but currently failure to do so is not a compliance breach. If the guidelines become mandatory, companies could face action for unfair trade practice, for suppressing negative reviews or for enabling planting of fake reviews, Taparia said. (Reporting by NiveditaBhattacharjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Mike Harrison and Mark Potter) Source: Business Standard

Justice delayed is justice denied, they say. Unfortunately, the delay in providing justice has also seeped to the consumer grievance redressal, with the increasing number of pending cases before the state consumer disputes redressal commission and district consumer disputes redressal commission. In a written reply in the LokSabha, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, minister of state for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, says, “Vacancy of presidents and members in consumer commissions across the country and frequent adjournments are some of the major reasons for pendency of the cases.” PV Midhun Reddy, a member of Parliament (MP), has raised the question about the number of pending cases before consumer commissions across the country and the reason for the pendency. Information provided by the minister shows there were 48.7K (thousand) cases filed before the state consumer grievances commissions. Out of these, 37.6K cases were disposed leaving 112,278 cases pending. Similarly, 1.92mn (million) cases were filed in district consumer commissions from across the country, out of which 1.49mn were disposed. At present, there are 429,562 cases pending before the district commissions, information shared by the minister shows. Among the state commissions, the highest number of cases at 84,850 was filed in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Maharashtra at 72,885 cases. However, Maharashtra has the maximum number of cases (25,989) pending, while in UP it is at 20,633. However, the situation is reversed when it comes to cases filed, disposed and pending in the district commissions. In Maharashtra, 26.2K cases were filed, out of which 21.5K were disposed, leaving 47,521 cases pending. In UP, 18.8K cases were filed; out of these, 10.7K cases were disposed, leaving 80,413 cases pending. According to Mr Choubey, the minister of state, the new Consumer Protection Act provides for establishing mediation cells within the premises of consumer commissions to work as an alternate dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism. If there is a scope for early settlement and parties agree to it, the consumer commission can refer cases to these mediation cells, he added. “Under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act it is the responsibility of the state governments to fill up the vacancies of the president and members in the state commissions and district commissions. The Union government has been continuously taking up with the state governments and Union territory (UT) administrations for expeditious filling up of the existing and anticipated vacancies of president and member of the consumer commissions,” the minister says. Last month, the department of consumer affairs, along with the National Legal Service Authority, participated in the National LokAdalat, where pending consumer cases having the element of mutual settlement were identified and, with the consent of parties, were referred for settlement. Out of 19,497 cases listed for settlement, 5,930 cases were settled on a single day during the LokAdalat.

The harassment, humiliation and mental agony of customers in the name of updating know-your-customer (KYC) continues unabated and banks are regularly found freezing accounts without any intimation or communication, as mandated by the regulator. This inflicts ‘financial death’ on people by depriving them of access to their own savings. KYC documents are basic identification documents such as your PAN number or Aadhaar or some address proof to prove that your account is bona fide. However, banks simply do not pay any heed to directions issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and ignore whether the customer is a senior citizen, an old customer, or a company or even a non-government organisation (NGO) or trust. Even many senior citizens, who have been banking with the same branch for decades, are being repeatedly harassed for re-KYC. Some of them are pensioners and submit their life certificates once a year to the bank. However, these pensioners are also not spared by banks from the re-KYC. While the maximum harassment is for business accounts and trusts, individuals with savings accounts, which need KYC renewal only once in a decade, are also routinely harassed. Most are unaware that RBI has now permitted online KRC renewal. Instead, customers are being asked to come to the ‘home’ branch in person and sometimes wait for a long time to update KYC. Online KYC The central bank, however, thinks that banks have resolved the KYC and KYC renewal issue. A high-level source at the RBI says: “We have simplified the re-KYC process and low-risk customers are required to do re-KYC once in 10 years. This can be done through self-declaration in case there are no changes in KYC details. This can be done through digital channels such as customer’s email ID, mobile, ATMs, online banking or internet banking, and mobile application of the bank concerned.” “In case of a change only in the address details of the individual customer, a self-declaration of the new address has also been allowed, which has to be verified by the bank through positive confirmation within two months,” the source says. Very few customers are aware of this change and banks, who relentlessly spam their customers for loans and credit cards, do not bother to provide this information either. RBI itself has funds under the depositor education and awareness fund (DEAF)—comprising of unclaimed deposits and interest—which can be used to create public awareness. The Fund even uses superstar Amitabh Bachchan in its public service campaigns. The central bank has apparently not realised that online KYC could also do with an awareness campaign.  Disaggregated customers are unable to get their voices heard, so our sister entity Moneylife Foundation had submitted a detailed memorandum to RBI in April this year as a first step in this long battle to mitigate hardships faced by bank customers. As pointed out in the memorandum, denying customers access to their own money is an extreme punishment which is imposed with impunity by bank officers, often without adequate notice, merely for a delay in compliance with KYC re-submission. “Often, customers get no warning and learn of the draconian action when their cheques bounce or debit card is dishonoured, despite money in the bank. Sometimes, they suffer because banks have made horrible mistakes or failed to seek or update information in the core banking system. Banks neither apologise nor face any consequences when this happens,” the memorandum says. Last year, we also found that the regulator had not penalised any lender for failing to adhere to its KYC updating guidelines. Further, RBI had no information about communication between banks and the regulator for KYC updates of customers in the high-risk, medium-risk and low-risk categories, as shown by a reply received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. According to a top banker, banks are supposed to classify customers on the basis of their risk profile and the KYC harassment is reserved for those who are seen at higher risk. However, the nature of complaints that one sees on social media reveals that depositors, who would logically have the lowest risk profile—for instance, senior citizens living on savings and pensions, current accounts of companies that are used for routine business and salary payments—also suffer harassment and threats to freeze accounts. Neither banks nor RBI are willing to clarify the basis of risk classification. Although banks claim that they are harassed by RBI, and the regulator blames the finance ministry’s money laundering regulations for this, victims of such coercive action have no answers or redress.   The updated master direction issued by RBI on KYC mandates periodic updating to be carried out at least once every two years for high-risk customers, once in every eight years for medium-risk customers and once in every 10 years for low-risk customers. In the case of low-risk customers, when there is no change in status with respect to their identities and addresses, a self-certification to that effect shall be obtained. Risk categorisation is undertaken based on parameters such as customer’s identity, social and financial status, nature of business activity, and information about the clients’ business and their location. Source: Moneylife.in

While describing the modus operandi of cybercriminals, we have always said that they exploit people’s ‘fear’ and ‘greed’ to dupe them and steal their money. Both factors can push people into risky behaviour, such as responding to SMS or calls from unknown persons, sharing personal information or downloading an app. Behavioural experts have identified the psychological fear of missing out (FOMO) and its advanced version, the fear of losing out (FOLO), as mental disorders. Often, people are unaware of responding to situations, taking risks and succumbing to the lure or threat from the scamsters due to FOMO or FOLO. For example, somebody holding blue-chip shares, who ought to sell them and book profit based on performance indicators, is afraid and unwilling to do so because he/she thinks the share price will increase as soon as he/she sells it. It is the fear of losing out-FOLO. Many victims of cybercrimes take unwarranted risks out of FOLO. Here are five common SMS and calls made by cybercriminals to dupe people. Understanding these will help you avoid taking undue risks and you will not lose out on anything.  1. Sextortion Messages/ Video Calls on WhatsApp A few days ago, our local operator sent a message on WhatsApp alerting everyone that his personal details and photos are ‘stolen’ and the criminals are threatening to make public his morphed photos to all his contacts. Sometimes, the criminals are also sending messages to his contacts saying he is not repaying the money he borrowed from them. He says it is all false and he has become a victim of what is known as the ‘sextortion’ racket. He has filed a complaint with the local police station, and investigations are ongoing. Police asked him to block the numbers from which he has been receiving the calls and messages for extortion. He is also asked to inform all his contacts about the incident and not to respond to any such messages about him from any number. The point is cases of sextortion have become rampant and anyone who responds to messages or calls from unknown numbers on WhatsApp can easily become a victim. In all sextortion cases, criminals use the fear factor to extort money from the victim. However, instead of fear, the victim needs to take guidance from someone who knows and understands these issues. Most importantly, without any fear, the victim must file a first information report (FIR) at the nearest police station. This only would ensure that proper action is taken against the criminals. In one such extortion call, when former central information commissioner (CIC) Shailesh Gandhi, was threatened, he disconnected the call and then registered a case at Santacruz police station under Sections 385 and 66(E) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). According to reports, Mewat region in the tri-junction of Haryana, Rajasthan and UP has fast emerged as the ‘New Jamtara’ of sextortion rackets. “Unlike Kolkata’s burgeoning phishing industry, which has office buildings and call centres, the Mewat scam is a bit of an unstructured cottage industry. Scammers are travelling a lot, especially because many are also truck drivers. They make suspicious phone calls from non-descript highways, using sim cards collected from the road. This is predominantly a leaderless crime racket. There are no kingpins. Anyone with a smartphone and a sim can scam and blackmail.,” says a report from The Print. Sextortion scammers trap their victims either by luring them through links or video calling, and a few seconds are enough to lay the trap for blackmail—the scammer shows the victim an obscene image or video clip and then frames them for consuming pornography. After that, the blackmailing starts from different numbers. “The third and final stage is to impersonate the police: The scammer pretends to be from the Delhi Police’s cyber crime unit, accuses the victim of watching or distributing pornography, and asks for money to bury the ‘case’,” the report says. Sextortion SMS or calls are a clear case of FOLO, where the victim believes s/he will lose something if they fail to fulfil the demands from cyber criminals. 2. PAN Update SMS HDFC Bank is the latest favourite of cybercriminals. They send SMS about blocking an HDFC account if the permanent account number (PAN) card details are not updated. The message also contains a shortened link (to disguise the original link). Two important things to remember in case you receive any such message: Check the sender. If it has come from a mobile number, then it is definitely a fraud SMS. Secondly, the message will have the first letter capitalised without any reason. For example, the ‘HDFC’ SMS says, “Dear Customer Your HDFC Account has been blocked Today please Update Your PAN CARD”. Neither HDFC Bank nor any other bank and financial services provider sends a message in this language or manner, never from a mobile number. They all use registered and authentic headers in their SMS messages sent to customers.  By not responding to such messages, you will neither miss anything nor lose anything (read: money). 3. Quick & Bumper Returns on Investment There are several cases where common people are lured into investing in the stock market, forex (foreign exchange) trade or anything fancy with promises to earn huge returns. A few months ago, a person from Pune was cheated of Rs4.37 crore under the pretext of investing money in forex trading and earning huge returns. The ‘investor’, in this case, was promised a 24% return. As Moneylife keeps reiterating, if anyone promises investment returns of more than the provident fund’s current interest rate, then be very careful. Also, stay away from financial products you do not understand. For example, if you have no idea how the foreign currency market or trading or crypto trading works, it is better to avoid any ‘investment’ plan that offers higher returns from forex trade or crypto trading. All such investment traps fall under FOMO, where people think they will miss the opportunity to gain something big. 4. Free Gift

Personal data breach is increasingly common in the financial services sector. With 59% of respondents claiming that their data has been compromised by loan agencies, 40% allege that it has been the insurance provider and 34% believe that it is the banks that misused their data. It is clear that people believe financial institutions are failing in their responsibility to protect their personal data, says LocalCircles. According to the report, protecting customer or consumer data has never been part of the process design at most financial institutions like loan agencies, insurance providers and banks in India, but an afterthought. “As and when vulnerabilities are found, the citizen-centric financial institutions have plugged the gap while many of them have just addressed the issue at hand without making long-term process and system changes.” “The last mile of these institutions is the most vulnerable either because they employ an external organisation i.e. contract workers or these organisations have not been briefed about the rules and regulations related to data protection,” it added. Breach of data is not just confined to personal information. In August this year, Union minister of state for finance BhagwatKarad told parliament that data fraud amounting to Rs6,861 crore was reported by private and public sector banks in the first quarter of the current financial year. Parliament was informed that Indian banks reported 248 data breaches between June 2018 and March 2022, resulting in theft of business and personal information mostly due to card details leakage. Of the 248 data breaches, 41 were reported by public sector banks, 205 by private sector banks and two by foreign banks, the minister said. Dr Karad also stated that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued guidelines on cyber security framework for scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) to implement cyber security and information technology (IT) controls, among other things, for prevention of data leakage from its systems. LocalCircles says even the front-line staff of most financial institutions works with customers using their personal phones and WhatsApp. “When any such individual leaves the organisation, the personal financial data of the customers goes with them, leaving them highly vulnerable to theft and fraud. Most commonly, the same individual joins another competing financial institution and the same customer gets an unsolicited request to avail of a similar financial service by that company. The lack of a data protection law has led to most financial institutions not designing their processes to protect customer’s private information.” The majority of the survey respondents felt it was the weak internal and external governance at the financial institutions that was leading to it, the survey report says. “Also, the highest number of people, 53% felt that it was the service providers of these institutions that compromised personal data, while 38% felt employees were involved as well. A sizable 43% also felt that the institutions itself were compromising their information or selling it, a big enforcement or communication gap that the financial institutions must plug.” With the hope that the new data protection bill will soon be released for public input, LocalCircles says it decided to conduct a detailed study on the financial sector from a data privacy breach standpoint so that concerns and experiences of citizens across the country can be quantified and used as an input in the formation of the law. The survey received responses from over 41,000 citizens located in over 319 districts of the country. 59% of those with existing loans have been approached with detailed alternate offers in the past five years The first question in the survey was about understanding the experience of people with their loans and especially alternate offers regarding their loans. It asked respondents, “Have you had any instances in the past five years where you received a detailed alternate offer related to your existing loan via email, phone call, SMS or WhatsApp?” In response, 33% out of 10,980 respondents stated that it happened several times, 26% stated it happened once or twice, while 41% were fortunate not to have received any such communication. Loan terms can be anywhere ranging from a couple of months to even 10 years in case of home loans. On an aggregate basis, the survey found that 59% of those with an existing loan have received detailed alternate offers to switch to another lending institution either via email, phone call, SMS, and WhatsApp within the past five years. This indicates a massive data breach as the sender has access to an individual’s personal loan data which is being used to send unsolicited loan offers, it added. 40% of respondents surveyed say they have been approached with detailed alternate offers for their existing insurance policies The second question in the survey was about people’s experience with their insurance policies, especially if they received alternate offers on their insurance policies. It asked respondents, “Have you had any instances in the last five years where you received a detailed offer related to your existing insurance policy/ policies via email, phone call, SMS, or WhatsApp?” About 40% of the 10,665 respondents to the question had been approached. Out of them, 30% shared they had been approached several times, and 10% once or twice. Of the remaining, 55% stated it had never happened, while 5% were not sure. “What this means is that, on an aggregate basis, four in 10 citizens who hold an insurance policy received detailed alternate offers to their policy indicating that someone has access to not just their PAN, Aadhaar but also how much insurance they carry, their premium and when does their policy expire. Clearly, this data is being used to send unsolicited insurance policy offers to them,” LocalCircles says. 34% respondents with existing bank accounts admitted to being approached with alternate offers in the past five years The third question in the survey was about the experience of people with receiving unsolicited offers related to their existing bank account. It asked respondents, “Have you had any instances in the last five years where you received a

The district consumer dispute redressal forum has ordered the municipal corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to give interim compensation of Rs2 lakh to a woman, who was critically injured after being attacked by a pet dog of DogoArgentino breed in the Civil Lines area, here in August. On Tuesday, the forum also ordered to form a policy for the pet dogs within three months and also said if the corporation wished, then the compensation amount could be recovered from the dog-owner, who lives in a bungalow on the Civil Lines. The forum also directed the civic body to take the dog into custody and to cancel the licence of the owner with immediate effect. Apart from this, citing a Central government notification, the forum also banned 11 foreign dog breeds and ordered that licences to keep these canines be cancelled and the animals be taken into custody. As per the notification of the government of India dated 25.4.2016 the following pet dogs of foreign breeds are hereby completely banned with immediate effect w.e.f. 15.11.2022 which are as follows: American pit-bull terriers, DogoArgentino, Rottweiler, Neapolitan mastiff, Boerboel, PresaCanario, Wolf dog, Bandog, American Bulldog, Fila Brasileiro and Cane Corso. “The victim is entitled to an amount of Rs2 lakh to be paid as compensation by way of interim relief by the MCG,” the forum said. The incident took place  on 11th August when Munni, the victim, a native of West Bengal, was attacked by the pet dog when she was going to work with her sister-in-law. She was referred from civil hospital to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital for treatment. An FIR (first information report) was registered at the Civil Line police station. Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.

About 50% of Indian consumers are now open to buying electric vehicles (EVs), albeit with a caveat, while 54% of consumers are still concerned about EV quality, a report showed on Monday, adding that EV range anxiety now appears to be a misperception. As per the report by CyberMedia Research (CMR), the consumers are not shying away from EVs owing to ‘EV range anxiety’ or ‘upfront costs’, or ‘limited EV charging infrastructure’. “For long, limited EV charging infrastructure and range anxiety have been construed as barriers for EV adoption. However, automotive OEMs have already designed EVs with a sufficient range of up to 200 kms or more,” said John Martin, analyst, smart mobility practice, CMR. “The potential consumer for EVs is more concerned by the overall EV quality. EV quality includes not just external build quality but refers to the overall quality of internal components used – including battery and others,” Mr Martin added. With a strong government policy push, including its flagship EV scheme, faster adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles (FAME), and more automotive OEMs prioritising EVs, India’s EV momentum is gaining momentum. India’s EV charging infrastructure is accelerating, with more public EV charging stations coming up. Alongside, cross-industry collaborations in the EV ecosystem will also contribute to the ramping-up of charging infrastructure. “Driven by ongoing policy thrust at the central and state levels for EV infrastructure development, alongwith upstream R&D in battery development will ensure a significant uptick in ramping-up e-mobility. For OEMs, the focus should be on continuous awareness generation around the quality and potential of EVs,” Mr John noted. Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.

The Central government will make e-filing of consumer complaints mandatory from April 2023, said a senior official, adding that the move is also expected to help in faster redressal of the grievances. Currently, people can file complaints before consumer commissions or courts, both in physically and online mode. The electronic filing (e-filing) option for consumer complaints was introduced on September 7, 2020. Speaking to news agency PTI, a senior consumer affairs ministry official said, “Looking at the success of e-filing, we are going to make it mandatory from April 1, 2023, for all consumer commissions in the country.” The mandatory e-filing of consumer complaints will also help people to register their issues directly without the help of a lawyer of his or their choice, according to the official. He added that once the complaints are in the form of e-filings, it will facilitate speedier disposal of the cases. There is a three-tier system to address consumer grievances. It starts with the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (DCDRF). At the state level, it is the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and at the national level, it is the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. The consumer affairs ministry has taken several measures to strengthen the infrastructure of consumer courts in the country to facilitate easy filing and early disposal of cases. Earlier in September this year, the Delhi government announced that it is developing a mobile app to enable people to give suggestions and register their complaints regarding packaged commodities. Delhi’s Food and Supplies minister Imran had said the people-friendly mobile app being developed by the department will help consumers to lodge their complaints and suggestions that will be addressed within 48 hours. (With PTI inputs) Source: Livemint.com