Frauds in online shopping

In this fast-paced world, it is so difficult for everyone to go to a shop and buy their favorite products. Either there is a lack of time or mere laziness to dress up and go out for shopping. Exploiting this attitude came the online shopping.

Wherein, we can view the product, which ranges from household articles, electronics, dress materials and what not. Everything is available online and there is nothing that does not get left out ranging from a pin to a huge car.

In today’s world, everything is at our fingertips. Just a click of the mouse can do wonders to us. But is it healthy? As the coin has two sides, online shopping has its own pros and cons. One should always be careful in both buying as well as selling. The frauds can be anywhere disguised as a customer or as a seller.

Of course, there are well established branded online shopping websites that do a great service to the public. On the other hand, there are fraudulent companies which pose as a legitimate one and after receiving the money would elope off or provide a product that is less valuable and sometimes completely different from the one advertised on their website.

Types of frauds by the sellers:

1. Either the product will never be delivered or will take more time than mentioned.

2. The product delivered will be of low quality or something that was completely different from the one that was ordered.

3. The actual information of the product will be hidden.

4. The terms and conditions of the sales will not be intimated clearly.

5. The money will not be refunded in case of less quality product.

6. More than everything, the personal details of the buyer will be misused by the seller by accessing their personal finances. They could even buy products from other sources using this information or use it for criminal offenses.

Frauds by buyers:

1. The payment will not be received by the seller.

2. Buyers could give cheques which could be stolen or forged which would put the seller in a bay.

3. The credit card details provided could be of someone else.

4. At times some miscreants would give the wrong address just for the sake of having some fun.

It is always a good practice to accept payments as cash after delivering the product and this stands well for both the customers as well as the sellers. It is advisable to check whether the received product is what was ordered and then pay for it.

What should be done?

1. As soon as you smell something foul, immediately report to the cyber crime police so that someone else will not be cheated just like us.

2. It would be a smart move to keep track of all the pieces of evidence like correspondence papers or details and the product that was delivered, etc.

How to protect ourselves from these frauds:

1. Before ordering the product, check whether there is a feedback section wherein the other buyers would have reported about the product and its working nature.

2. Beware of sweet talks and too many discounts should immediately ring a bell that this could be a fraud.

3. We must be very careful with a seller who is new in the market as they would not have much selling history.

4. Before ordering, double-check the URL website name of the seller. There are so many imposters using a popular brand's name, for example, Flipkart is the original seller, one could come across a website which could call themselves as Fllipkart.com. With a small spelling mistake here and there we could end up in a big mess.

5. There are lots of phishing emails which pose as being sent from a popular online site, they would ask for the personal details. Please do not do so

6. Always read the terms and conditions of the product carefully before deciding on a product.

Online shopping is easy and fun to pick things in one place and order them with a single click, but let us all be the smart shoppers and see to it that we do not fall into the traps of miscreants and fraudsters. Always be careful and check and double check whether the seller is genuine in the case of the point of view of a buyer and vice versa.