With this year’s Dhanteras (November 2) round the corner, people are bracing up to flock to the jewellery shops to buy gold as it is considered an auspicious day to purchase the yellow metal.

But one has to be careful while making purchases as the raids by the Consumer Welfare Department in the last few years have exposed that even the reputed and top jewellers are rampantly cheating the customers in weight and purity.

The Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain even said this in the State Assembly. He informed that many top jewellers in cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and other parts of the State are violating the weight and measure standards. The department has collected fines from 27 shops while it has issued compounding notices to two jewellery shops.

Despite the department’s symbolic raids, cheating continues unabated. The ground reality is the fines collected from the violators is very meagre and has led to suspicion that some dishonest officials are hand-in-glove with the unscrupulous jewellers and letting them off  the hook by paying peanuts.

In this scenario, the customer has to fend for himself and has to be extremely well-informed and vigilant from being a victim of cheating. 

Most of the time the modus operandi of the dishonest jewellers is they tamper with the electronic weighing machine using the mode option button. With this, they can adjust the measures according to their convenience resulting in short delivery of the yellow metal purchased in a shop.

A shopkeeper can also dupe consumers by simply placing the weighing machine on an uneven surface, as accurate measurement can be obtained only if the machine is placed on a flat surface. Many traders are seen placing their machines awkwardly either out of ignorance or intentionally.

Besides, another frequent violation indulged by the jewellery shop owners is to include precious stone weight in the total gold weight. Customers have to check the bill thoroughly and ensure that the stone weight is deducted from the gold weight.

Another way in which a customer is cheated by the shop owners is that he is charged for 22 carat gold even though the gold is of a lesser value. An ornament studded with diamonds is usually made with 18 carat gold, but jewellers charge customers for 22 carat gold, said knowledgeable sources.