After the COVID-19 pandemic, many people found themselves looking for a job. The gig economy also means increased hire-and-fire by start-ups and tech-based companies. A large number of job aspirants in India make it a huge opportunity for fraudsters to prey on people who are already desperate for income. Fake job rackets are spreading over social media and it is imperative that you keep identification documents out of their reach.  Fake Job Placement Scams A placement agency asked a young girl in Delhi to pay a registration fee of Rs3,500 and Rs8,000 just for a  job interview. She paid the money through Google Pay and, after the ‘interview’, was given an appointment letter by Sunshine HR Global Services. When the girl turned up at the company for a job, she discovered that the appointment letter was forged. She has filed a complaint with the police. The Delhi police raided the office of a job consultancy firm at Bhikaji Cama Place and arrested seven people, including five women, who had allegedly cheated over 250 job aspirants of around Rs23 lakh. According to the police, the firm operated a fake call centre in the name of job placements. A raid led to the recovery of 16 mobile phones, two laptops, several registers and forged appointment letter pads in the name of Sunshine HR Global Services. Similarly, a message is being circulated on WhatsApp in the name of the global multinational Amazon, offering recruitment. It is ostensibly being sent by a general manager of  Amazon and looking to hire a team of part-time employees. The message says, “You can work part-time on your phone. A part-time job takes 10-20 minutes! Newcomers get 101RS immediately. Daily salary: 3000Rs-5000RS…” This is a fraudulent message, and Amazon has already clarified that it has nothing to do with the post. “Amazon or its employees will never contact you to let you know about offers or jobs opportunity from Amazon. You can refer to http://amzn.to/3w1MIH3, for the available positions and apply accordingly,” said the company in a tweet. In case you received such a message, report the number to WhatsApp, which ensures that it gets blocked. Fake Job and Loan Racket Using Other People’s KYC We, at Moneylife and Moneylife Foundation, often warn people to be careful while sharing know your customer (KYC) documents with anyone. We also advise them not to share a photocopy of any KYC documents without mentioning the purpose and date while self-attesting it. Here is why we issue these warnings. According to IANS, Monikumar Kaipeng from Agartala used KYC documents of tribal people of Tripura to obtain SIM cards to commit cyber crimes. He also opened bank accounts in the names of tribals by paying them a small sum. These accounts would be used as money mules to route payments in large-scale fraud. The masterminds of this fraud are two African nationals, Fasoyin Avaloho and Adbe Ange Alfred Adoni, living in Bengaluru without a valid visa or passport. This duo cheated people by promising them jobs and loans and getting the money transferred to different bank accounts opened in the name of the tribals. They also made calls using the SIMs obtained by Kaipeng, assured victims of gifts, and got the money transferred to these accounts. The police have arrested all three individuals and seized four SIM cards and three mobile phones which they were using to cheat gullible people. The police have also seized six debit cards, besides tracing four bank accounts opened in the names of the tribals. Beware of Gaddibaaz or Lifafebaaz Gang The Delhi police has arrested three members of a gang of cheats known as ‘Gaddibaaz’ or ‘Lifafebaaz’. ‘Gaddi’ refers to a bundle—in this case, a bundle of currency that is used to trap people, while Lifafa is an envelope – which is integral to the modus operandi of these gangs. The Gaddibaaz gang cheats people by persuading them to exchange wads of brand new currency with loose used currency notes. They create what appears to be a bundle of currency with original notes at the top and bottom while the rest are plan paper. They then entice people to part with cash and valuables in exchange for the fake bundle of notes. To win the victim’s confidence, they show the original note from the little corner of the packet and tend to flee when they have got people to part with valuables. Notorious criminals are often part of these Gaddibaaz or Lifafebaaz gangs. Earlier, these gangs used to target people waiting for public transport, particularly at bus stands or on roadsides. Sometimes, the fraudsters pose as policemen or officials of law enforcement agencies. The Lifafebaaz gang masquerades as police or enforcement officials. Under the pretext of a check or investigation, they ask victims to put their cash and valuables in an envelope. People realise they are duped when they find that the envelope that was returned to them after the inspection has been replaced by a similar-looking envelope before the fraudsters absconded. These gangs are often found to operate near banks. Last week, following a tip-off, the Delhi police arrested three members of one such gang that cheated a bank customer in Fatehpur Beri of Rs55,000. Source: moneylife

With value pricing, convenience, selection and fast deliveries offered by e-platforms, for many household consumers, the migration from going to a market to shopping for most things online has become a permanent change. While the majority of consumers relies on product reviews and ratings, according to a survey, nearly 60% of the consumers say their negative ratings and reviews are not published by e-commerce platforms. The survey, conducted by LocalCircles, also reveals that almost 90% of the customers say that the e-commerce platforms should restrict low-rated products from sellers to be relisted as another product. The majority of consumers relies on product reviews and ratings on e-commerce sites before buying a product Platforms that provide trustworthy information on reviews and ratings will always have a competitive advantage and will win consumer trust in the long run. In the study, the first question asked consumers, “When buying something on eCommerce sites, how do you use ratings and review the information that is available?” Almost 64% of respondent citizens said they ‘always go through them’, and 26% said they ‘sometimes go through them’. Further breaking down the poll, 7% said they ‘only check them for expensive or non-branded products’ while 3% said they ‘never go through them’. This indicated that majority of consumers relies on product reviews and ratings on e-commerce sites before buying a product. 65% consumers say that product ratings on e-commerce sites have a positive bias on majority of the products The next question in the study focused on the quality of ratings on e-commerce sites and asked consumers, “How do they find ratings on e-commerce sites for majority of the products?” About 65% said they found ‘positive bias’ and 18% find it ‘accurate’. There were also 16% who said they found ‘negative bias’ of the product, while 1% said that the ‘sites that I use do not have product ratings’. Consumers continue to find ratings on e-commerce sites positively biased in the past three years In a similar study conducted in 2019 by LocalCircles, 62% of consumers had found ratings on e-commerce sites for majority of the products as ‘positively bias’, 12% said it was ‘accurate’, while 19% ‘negatively bias’, and 7% said they ‘don’t look at product rating’. In the 2022 survey, 65% found the product ratings on e-commerce sites to be positively biased indicating that sellers may be influencing ratings for their products to attract consumers and platforms are not proactively acting in such situations, LocalCircles says. 62% consumers say that product review on e-commerce sites has a positive bias on majority of the products Similar to the previous question on ratings, the next question in the study focused on the quality of reviews on e-commerce sites and asked consumers, “How do you find reviews on e-commerce sites for majority of the products”. Almost 62% said ‘positive bias’, 17% said ‘accurate’, and 13% said ‘negative bias’. There were also 2% of consumers who said, ‘sites they use don’t have product ratings’, while 6% said they ‘don’t look at product reviews’ while making online purchases. Consumers continue to find reviews on e-commerce sites positively biased in the past three years When it came to reviews, positive bias has increased by 5% from 57% to 62%, while accuracy has reduced by 3% as compared to the 2019 survey. This indicated that consumers continue to find reviews on e-commerce sites positively biased over the last three years, LocalCircles says. One of the top issues reported by consumers has been how sellers themselves, via friends and family networks and, in some cases, even via public relations and influencers, get purchases organised which are designed just to rate and review the product highly. Such a practice gives an initial positive ratings and review boost for the seller’s products while it misleads the consumers. 80% consumers had one or more product they ordered based on high rating on e-commerce sites, not meeting their expectations The next question in the study asked consumers “How frequently has it happened in the last 12 months that a product with high rating on an e-commerce site did not meet your expectations?” Only 5% said it has happened ‘over 5 times’, 27% said it happened ‘3-5 times’ and 48% it happened ‘1-2 times’. There were also 6% who said it ‘never happened’, 2% said ‘they don’t look at ratings before ordering’ while 12% did not have an opinion. On an aggregate basis, 80% consumers who have shopped on e-commerce sites have had one or more cases in the past 12 months where a highly rated product did not meet their expectations, LocalCircles says. Percentage of consumers for who the product received wasn’t commensurate to the published rating, rose in the past 3 years When a similar question was asked in 2019, the percentage of consumers for whom the product received wasn’t commensurate to the published ratings was 62%. This percentage has increased to 80% in the past three years. Further, the percentage of citizens saying it never happened to them in the past 12 months reduced from 17% to 6% in the same period. This clearly shows that many sellers are somehow able to plant high ratings and reviews of their products to influence the consumers and make them purchase it only for the consumer to regret later. Only 23% consumers say that their negative reviews or ratings on e-commerce sites were published as it is When the study asked consumers, “What has been your experience when you post a low rating or a negative review of a product on e-commerce sites/apps?” only 23% said that their negative reviews or ratings on ecommerce sites were ‘published as it is.’ There were, however, 41% of consumers who said ‘it is not published sometimes’ and 17% said ‘it is not published at all’ while 19% did not have an opinion. This is currently the single biggest issue with e-commerce ratings and reviews where a genuine, verified consumer review or rating is rejected by e-commerce platforms under the category

Citing guidelines issued by the central consumer protection authority (CCPA), the ministry of consumer affairs says, no hotels or restaurants can add service charges automatically or by default to the food bill. The guidelines, issued by CCPA, stipulate that hotels or restaurants shall not add service charges automatically or by default in the food bill and no collection of service charges shall be done by any other name. “No hotel or restaurant shall force a consumer to pay the service charge and shall clearly inform the consumer that service charge is voluntary, optional and at consumer’s discretion.” “No restriction on entry or provision of services based on the collection of service charge shall be imposed on consumers. The service charge shall not be collected by adding it along with the food bill and levying GST on the total amount,” the CCPA says. Consumers have registered many complaints in the national consumer helpline (NCH) about levying service charges. The issues consumers raise include restaurants making service charges compulsory and adding it in the bill by default, suppressing that paying such charges is optional and voluntary and embarrassing consumers if they resist paying the service charge. Various cases relating to the levying of service charges have also been decided by consumer commissions in favour of consumers, holding them as an unfair trade practice and in violation of consumer rights. After reviewing the complaints, CCPA decided to issue guidelines for preventing unfair trade practices and violation of consumer rights regarding levying service charges in hotels and restaurants. It says, “If any consumer finds that a hotel or restaurant is levying service charge in violation to the guidelines, a consumer may make a request to the concerned hotel or restaurant to remove service charge from the bill amount. Also, the consumer may lodge a complaint on the NCH, which works as an alternate dispute redressal mechanism at the pre-litigation level by calling 1915 or through the NCH mobile app.” “The consumer may also file a complaint against unfair trade practice with the Consumer Commission. The Complaint can also be filed electronically through e-daakhil portal www.e-daakhil.nic.in for its speedy and effective redressal. Furthermore, the consumer may submit a complaint to the district collector of the concerned district for investigation and subsequent proceeding by the CCPA. The complaint may also be sent to the CCPA by e-mail at com-ccpa@nic.in,” the release says.  Source: MoneyLife

While more and more e-commerce and financial technology (fin-tech) companies are joining hands with lenders to provide ‘buy-now-pay-later’ (BNPL) schemes, these products can impose high monetary costs and there are gaps in customer protection safeguards in many of them, says a research report. A study by Dvara Research says, “… (our) examination suggests that BNPL products can impose high monetary costs that may be comparable to those imposed on credit cards usage – we caveat this by saying that a more thorough examination of actual costs based on customers’ usage of BNPL products and credit cards over time is warranted.” “We were also able to discover significant misalignment between BNPL providers’ practices and key conduct obligations towards customers. Such misalignment could impose non-monetary costs, which include loss of creditworthiness, personal data-related harms, and misconduct from providers and their agents,” say the authors of the report, Madhu Srinivas and Srikara Prasad. BNPL products have become one of the popular modes for customers to finance their retail purchases. BNPL products are being positioned as challengers to credit cards that can make credit more accessible to customers at little to no cost. Dvara Research specifically studied 10 BNPL-providers, including Ola Money Postpaid, Amazon Pay Later, Paytm Postpaid, LazyPay, Unicard, FlexMoney, ZestMoney, slice, Simpl, and Kissht. It found that customers incur different costs before and after defaulting on BNPL repayments, with an annual percentage rate (APR) between 0% to 36%. “In all the instances where a credit line was sanctioned, the sanctioned limit was much larger than the intended amount of purchase. While this prima facie appears harmless, it could encourage indebtedness especially since, as highlighted previously, the onus of assessing the suitability of credit is placed on the borrower.” “The problem of indebtedness is further complicated by the fact that all BNPL providers, or their financiers, have a clause in their terms and conditions (T&Cs) allowing them to recall the loan at any time and without assigning any reason. Thus, the borrower with maximum or near-maximum utilisation of credit limit could face a severe liquidity crunch if her loan were to be recalled. These concerns can be partly mitigated by sanctioning a credit line that is the lower of the maximum credit sanctionable to the borrower and the maximum credit limit as requested by the borrower,” Dvara Research says. Another customer protection concern that emerged from the research was an instance of unilateral cancellation of the credit line by the BNPL-provider, immediate recall of the outstanding amount and non-intimation about it to the borrower. It says, “Such an action, while consistent with the provider’s T&Cs, raises consumer protection concerns. The immediate recall of the credit line and its non-intimation to the customer puts her at risk of potential default and subsequent impairment of her credit score.” Further, BNPL-providers’ T&Cs are misaligned with key customer protection regulations, contravening key conduct obligations. “Customers are at a risk of unknowingly incurring debt, borrowing credit that is unsuitable for them, and being subject to aggressive debt collection practices,” it says. “Barring a couple of rejections, all volunteers successfully registered for the BNPL product and made their purchase. However, specific information about the costs of the BNPL product, like interest rate, processing fee and other charges, was not prominently displayed before the onboarding process. The volunteers were able to get this information on the websites of all the BNPL-providers except FlexMoney.” According to the report, while most BNPL-providers provided a key facts statement (KFS), some BNPL-providers did not do so. In some cases where KFS was provided, the KFS omitted key details like pricing, customer obligations and penalties. Further, some providers, like Amazon PayLater, and Ola PostPaid, disclose the name of the bank or the non-banking finance company (NBFC) that will provide credit. “However, some providers, like ZestMoney and Unicard, do not disclose the financier’s identity until the customer’s loan is sanctioned. This can contravene the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s circular on loans sourced by banks and NBFCs through digital lending platforms,” it added. At the same time, Dvara Research says, most financiers or lenders also do not display the names of their partners in digital lending. Further, financiers have obtained the right to reject credit applications without disclosing a reason. “The financier’s right to reject any credit application without disclosing the reasons for the rejection featured in all the providers’ T&Cs,” the report says. According to the report, some BNPL-providers, like Amazon Pay Later and Unicard, explicitly place the responsibility of assessing the suitability of the credit line on the customer. “This ‘buyer beware’ approach is problematic and contravenes the Right to Suitability that customers have under the RBI Charter of Customer Rights. Provisions like these can compound customer protection concerns. Evidence from prominent BNPL markets suggests that many customers who avail the BNPL services are rarely aware about entering into a credit contract.” The report from Dvara Research also highlights how potentially unlawful clauses are hidden in the fine print by BNPL players. It says, “Some clauses in the T&Cs tread a grey line by vacating customer protection safeguards and binding customers with unfair obligations that are potentially illegal. For instance, one clause in Unicard’s T&Cs waived customers’ safeguards under usury and any other laws relating to charging of interest. This clause vacates the protections afforded to customers by usury laws and interest rate related guidelines of RBI.” “Ideally, unlawful clauses are deemed to be void by default. However, such clauses will have to be challenged before the court or arbitration tribunal to be legally voided. Unfortunately, customers may be ill-equipped to challenge clauses in providers’ T&Cs. Customers may be unable to recognise unlawful clauses. Even if they recognise them, customers may be unable to challenge the clauses due to the monetary and time costs that are associated with doing so,” the report says. Most BNPL-providers collected different kinds of personal information, including education, occupation and contact information, for on-boarding and verification purposes. However, Dvara Research says the privacy policies that governed the use

Almost 38%-40% complaints to the National Consumer Helpline (1519) were against the e-commerce companies last month, a top government official said on Monday. “A powerful person in Delhi called me and said, I had ordered two chairs from Amazon and only one has been delivered. I have been complaining for three days but nobody is giving me a hearing,” Rohit Kumar Singh, secretary, ministry of consumer affairs, told a gathering to discuss such issues here. Even when it is only about 8%-9% of India’s total trade, e-commerce companies are gaining prominence every passing day, he said, however, “Last month, almost 38%-40% complaints on the National Consumer Helpline (1519) were against the e-commerce companies.” E-commerce is a faceless transaction as against the traditional business in which goods were purchased from the neighbourhood shops and such things as ordering two and getting delivery of only one chair would never happen with the traditional shopkeepers, he pointed out. Stating that all commerce is being consolidated into chosen few big players. For example, e-commerce has two-three big names, taxi aggregators have two-three, food & beverage operators sector has two big players and, if we look at telecom operators, there are just three-four big players, the Secretary said adding, “as this consolidation happens, these entities become more and more powerful and the power balance with the consumer is into limbo. It becomes imperative (for us) to stand strong with the consumer and the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions – national, states and district levels – should ensure that the consumer does not lose his right.” Earlier, the consumer affairs department had already issued notices to Ola/Uber taxi services and also to several restaurants in connection with service charges. Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.

New Delhi, 3 June, 2022: Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal on Friday said that restaurants cannot add service charges to food bills at their discretion and that the choice of paying tips lies with consumers. He added that restaurant owners are free to hike the prices of their food menu to be able to pay higher salaries to their employees. Restaurant industry bodies have been arguing that the amount collected through service charges is meant for the benefit of the staff. “You (restaurants) cannot just add a service charge on a bill… If you feel that some more benefits are to be given to employees, it cannot be forced on customers. You can raise prices to give hikes, “Goyal said in an interaction with the media on Thursday. He added that the Department of Consumer Affairs has been getting complaints from consumers against service charges levied by restaurants and hotels on the National Consumer Helpline. ‘No price controls’ He added that restaurants can hike salaries of employees’ and increase the rates of their menus as there are no price controls. “ You are free to give raises to employees and increase rates. But if there is a hidden cost, how will the people (consumers) know the real price? “he said. Terming service charges as an “unfair trade practice”, the Department of Consumer Affairs said that it will be coming up with a “robust framework” to protect consumer interests. This statement came after DoCA met with restaurant industry stakeholders to discuss various issues related to service charges. This include issues such as compulsory levy of service charges, adding the charge by default without the express consent of the consumer, suppressing that such a charge is optional and voluntary, and embarrassing consumers if they resist paying such a charge. Source: Thehindubusinessline.com

Third-party smartphone apps for connected cars belonging to top brands like Tesla, Nissan, Renault, Ford, and Volkswagen are using the vehicle owners’ credentials without asking for their consent, a new report claimed on Friday. On top of this, one in five of applications have no contact information, which makes it impossible to report a problem, according to Kaspersky’s ‘Connected Apps’ report which analysed 69 popular third-party mobile apps designed to control connected cars. “The benefits of a connected world are countless. However, it is important to note that this is still a developing industry, which carries certain risks,” said Sergey Zorin, Head of Kaspersky Transportation Security. “Unfortunately, not all developers take a responsible approach when it comes to data storage and collection, which results in users exposing their personal information. This data may further be sold on the dark web and end up in untrustful hands,” he warned. Cybercriminals might not only steal your data and personal credentials but also gain access to your vehicle – and that might lead to physical threats. Connected automotive applications allow users to remotely control their vehicles by locking or unlocking the doors, adjusting climate control, starting and stopping the engine, etc. Even though most car manufacturers have their own legitimate applications for the cars they make, third-party apps designed by mobile developers are also very popular among users as they may offer unique features that have not yet been introduced by the vehicle manufacturer. The third-party applications analysed by Kaspersky cover almost all major vehicle brands, with Tesla, Nissan, Renault, Ford and Volkswagen in the top-5 cars most often controlled by such apps. “However, these applications are not entirely safe to use,” claim Kaspersky researchers. They found that more than half of the applications don’t warn about the risks of using the owner’s account from the original automaker’s service. Moreover, every fifth application does not have information on how to contact the developer or give feedback, making it impossible to report a problem or request more information on the app’s privacy policy. “It is also worth noting that 46 of the 69 applications are either free of charge or offer a demo mode. This has contributed to such applications being downloaded from the Google Play Store more than 239,000 times, which makes you wonder how many people are giving strangers free access to their cars,” the report mentioned. Source: IANS

A significant difference between the real-world and technology-enabled virtual world is that things are not what we expect or want them to be. Especially when you are on social media, not everyone you come across may be a real person and therein lies the big danger. The trust factor should be factored out in the virtual world, or each experience there will end up as a hard lesson. Consider this example of an official who transferred Rs29 lakh to someone who had used the profile photo of a company’s managing director (MD) on WhatsApp. Believing in WhatsApp Profile Photo Cost Rs28 Lakh! The cybercrime department of the Bengaluru police is searching for a person who posed as the managing director (MD) of a private company and hoodwinked its human resources (HR) manager into transferring Rs28.8 lakh online. In his complaint, Nirmal Jain, who owns the company, has said that the fraudster sent a WhatsApp message to Thirupathi Rao, the HR manager, claiming to be Paras Jain, the MD. “The WhatsApp profile contained the MD’s photograph and the message said that it was his personal number and that he was in a meeting and was not to be disturbed. The person then asked Mr Rao to transfer money to three bank accounts online on an emergency basis. Mr Rao carried out the instructions and transferred Rs28,89,807 to the private bank account numbers mentioned in the message. The fraud came to light when he informed the senior officials about the transactions,” says a report from The Hindu. This incident raises many questions about whose money was transferred and the gullibility of the HR manager but highlights why profile photos posted on social media, and even WhatsApp numbers, may be fake. Ideally, if you receive threats or requests from unknown numbers,  you can report the person and block the number on WhatsApp. We are relatively lucky in India that the deepfakes are not yet duping people in a serious way. Deepfakes use existing image or video and replace them with someone else’s likeness using artificial neural networks to create an alternative and unreal episode. Deepfake audio, or even video, can be used for calling gullible users and requesting them to transfer funds, or to accompany strangers by faking an emergency. This is more like a sophisticated version of hacking into email accounts and seeking funds from friends and acquaintances of the user through ’emergency’ emails. (Read: How To Protect Your Digital Life in 2020, Especially from Deepfakes) Calling an unknown sender can sometimes clarify things, but there is also a danger that you may be further duped by smooth talk. Being vigilant and verifying who you engage with is imperative. Fake Chopper Ride for ‘Char Dham Yatra’! Even as the tourism industry is trying hard to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, scamsters are finding new opportunities to dupe travellers. Over a dozen people have been fooled by a fake website that offered a chopper ride for ‘Char Dham Yatra’ in Uttarakhand. In the past month alone, there have been five cases reported to Lucknow cyber cell and 10 at Uttar Pradesh (UP) cyber police. According to one such victim, she paid Rs50,000 for a helicopter ride to the places of pilgrimage, but she and her family members were not allowed to board the copter in Dehradun. The tickets that she had ‘booked’ were fake! She had booked them from a person claiming to be an agent of Pawan Hans Ltd from Dehradun. The scamster took copies of the family’s Aadhaar, passport and COVID-19 vaccination certificates and collected Rs50,000 for the tickets. He then sent tickets for the helicopter ride on WhatsApp, but they turned out to be fake. The important lesson here is not to use the services of an unknown third party without verification. And as far as the Char Dham Yatra is concerned, there is an authorised helicopter service provided by the tourism department. Manipulation of International Calls Using Local SIMs The Karnataka police have busted a gang with the arrest of its six members on charges of converting international calls from Middle-East countries to local calls, causing loss to the state exchequer. The police have seized 16 SIM box devices, two trunk call devices for session initiation protocol (SIP), nine primary rate interface (PRI) devices, five laptops, six routers, and 205 BSNL SIM cards used to convert international calls into local calls. SIP trunks are basically virtual phone lines that enable users to make and receive phone calls over the internet to anyone in the world with a phone number. Without going into technical details, the worrying aspect of this fraud is the number of SIMs obtained and used by the gang. They bought BSNL SIM cards from UP, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and other states. With a copy of Aadhaar, it has become relatively easy to get a SIM card from a vendor. And when Aadhaar is used, know-your-customer (KYC) checks followed by the mobile service providers are minimal. Many fraudster gangs buy SIMs in bulk mostly using Aadhaar copies obtained from several paid sources. In most cases, people whose Aadhaar is used to buy the SIM are clueless and know about this only when the police reach their homes. Remember Mumbai-based Ameya Dhapre and how his life has been turned upside-down ever since someone posted a copy of his Aadhaar on the web? Do read about it here Aadhaar Nightmares Coming True. How Ameya Dhapre Is Enduring ‘Living Hell’ with His Aadhaar: Report Loan Apps Continue to Harass Borrowers When the borrower uses a shortcut while borrowing money from lenders, it is bound to have consequences. It is best explained by the issues created by loan apps that provide the small loan in easy ways. However, the borrower often fails to note the higher interest rates and harassment that follows in case of even a single default in repayment. Loan apps access a borrower’s phone and siphon up contacts, photos, text messages, and even documents stored. Mumbai

Over the years, there has been a big increase in the number of accidents related to electricity in absolute and per capita terms. Consumers from rural areas are major victims of these accidents, primarily caused due to contact with conductors in the distribution system or at non-industrial consumer locations. Poor design, sub-standard construction, poor maintenance and lack of safety awareness contribute to the increase of accidents, finds a discussion paper published by Pune-based energy group Prayas. Sreekumar Nhalur, the author of the paper, says, “Since most accidents occur in the distribution system, distribution companies (DISCOMs) have the highest role to play in reducing accidents. But for them, improving financial health, reducing energy losses and providing reliable power to consumers is a higher priority. Safety is not high in their performance metric. National policies or initiatives do not currently have any safety components. Therefore, electricity safety is tragically slipping through governance gaps.” According to the paper, accident reduction requires technical and management measures over a period of many years. It says, “Specific safety initiatives by the central government, increased priority to safety by distribution companies, strengthening the role of state electrical inspectorates, proactive efforts by electricity regulators to ensure implementation of safety measures and building safety awareness in the general public are crucial if accidents have to be reduced.” “The Central Electricity Authority of India (CEA), some utilities, State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERCs), professional organisations and consumer organisations have initiated small steps to reduce accidents, but these need to be significantly strengthened. Only concerted efforts by all sector actors over a period of few years can reverse the trend and bring down the number and rate of accidents,” Mr Nhalur says. The major immediate cause of accidents is contact with live conductors, the discussion paper points out, adding, “Root causes include low priority to safety, bad design, poor maintenance, unauthorised repair, bad quality earthing, and inadequate protection systems. Addressing the root causes requires an understanding of the safety governance structure and identifying the gaps.” As per the 2020 Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report, 15,258 people died from electrical shocks and fires between January and December. CEA reports 7,717 fatal human accidents in FY19-20. Fatalities per 100,000 population, also called as fatality rate, is the most used parameter to compare different accident causes or geographies. In India, the fatality rate has been increasing over the years and is a little above 1, as per ADSI data and around 0.6 as per CEA data in 2020. Mr Nhalur writes, “The numbers are vastly different, perhaps due to data collection and reporting issues, which is an area of major concern. Whatever be the actual numbers, a worrying trend is that the number of accidents and also accidents normalised with parameters like population, number of consumers or energy handled, have been steadily increasing over the years.” Electricity systems up to the point of supply (generation, transmission and distribution) or end-use (consumer premises), can cause electric shocks (also called electrocution) and fires due to electrical faults. These, in turn, lead to human or animal injuries, deaths, and appliance or property damage.  The discussion paper “Electricity safety: Tragically falling through the governance gaps” also points out that most of the electrical accidents in India happen in rural areas and affect the public. “They occur mostly in the distribution system or at non-industrial consumer locations. Therefore, accident reduction is a public challenge and efforts should focus on rural areas and distribution systems.” A state-wise analysis of accidents indicates that 85% of the accidents occur in 11 states, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. Within the states, there is variation in the number of accidents based on consumer-mix, state of maintenance of the distribution network, climatic conditions and safety awareness. According to the paper, electricity safety is a public interest challenge which can be met only through coordinated action involving all sector actors. “There is scope to improve the current safety regulations. But the implementation of the current safety regulatory regime can be significantly tightened through better data collection, introducing safety aspects in national programs, strengthening safety institutions, developing safety metrics for DISCOMs, involving public and professionals in safety initiatives and utilising technological innovations.” “The need of the hour is a concrete accident reduction program in the distribution sector, with a clear scope of work, sufficient resource allocation and robust monitoring and verification mechanism. Only this can ensure that our electricity supply is not only universal, affordable and good quality but also safe,” it concludes. Source: Moneylife