Bullion traders dupe gullible customers by using non-standard weighing machines
Vijayawada: Some bullion traders are duping gullible customers of gold ornaments by adopting malpractices especially in small towns and villages in AP.
They are using electronic weighing machines of non-standard quality. They avoid getting the mandatory annual certification from the legal metrology authorities.
Though it is mandatory for all bullion traders to use electronic weighing machines of one mg accuracy to weigh gold ornaments before sale to customers, some are using machines of 10mg accuracy, in violation of norms, and cheat customers by giving them less quantity of gold.
Some traders are not issuing bills after purchase of gold ornaments though it is mandatory to issue bills after every purchase by mentioning about purity of gold like 24 or 22 carats, the accurate weight of the ornament, price, weight of colour stones or studs embedded in the ornament, their size, price and net weight of the yellow metal used in making such ornaments.
Legal metrology authorities say once the traders issue bills with all details mentioned above, the chance of getting cheated will be less. In case the customers find any variation in the purchased ornament to the specifications mentioned in the bill, he or she can take legal recourse to get justice and compensation for the lacunae.
They say that AP is the first state that made it mandatory to use only one mg accuracy electronic weighing machines in the bullion trade in the entire country, to ensure no customer gets cheated.
The legal metrology authorities carried out a special drive on March 3 on the eve of Akshaya Tritiya by inspecting 70 gold jewellery shops in the state and booked only six cases relating to a series of violations including under-weighing, with one each in Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and two in West Godavari.
The level of fraudulent practices being adopted by the traders appears high mainly due to lack of awareness among the customers on certain issues to be taken care of while purchasing gold jewellery. For instance, in Bapatla, a special drive on gold shops resulted in booking four cases in a day a few days ago. So was the case with other towns and villages in the state.
The authorities intend to intensify their awareness drive among the people on what precautions to be taken while purchasing gold ornaments so that they will not be duped.
A senior official from legal metrology said, “Such illegal practices appear to be rampant in rural areas as the traders take advantage of the ignorance of the customers vis-a-vis certain rules. We will book such traders under the norms of AP Legal Metrology Enforcement Rules, 2011, and relevant sections of related acts, to curb such practices.”
