Just when Malaysians are more comfortable with purchasing online, along comes a dunggu like this to shatter buyer's confidence.
Recently, this dunggu has taken advantage of the long Chinese New Year break to pull a con job and pocketted himself over MYR8000 (his angpow).
This case is not unique by itself and this modus operandi has been used before. A similar operation was carried out a few years ago, also during Chinese New Year, also in Lowyat.net forum.
And yet..... there are victims. In this particular case, there are approximately 18 victims, inclusive of "bogus" ones.
Not only are there victims who lost money to conmen like these, the indirect victims are online traders like us.
How can we expect buyers to trust us, genuine e-traders, when there are conmen watching on the sidelines, studying the market and planning and waiting for the right moment to strike?
In any transaction, on or offline, the onus is on the buyer to make sufficient investigation on the seller.
Here's a basic checklist:
How long has the seller traded here? (This must not be confused with the time the trader REGISTERED himself)
The longer a trader has traded in this site, the lesser chance of him running off with your money. IF he is a cheater, he wont last long here.
Reputation or Reference
Feedback is important to a seller as it is a good way to show potential buyers how serious he is in trading.
eBay and Lelong have good feedback systems, while some forums provide these for traders as well.
Make sure you, as a buyer, take time to read the feedback or ask for reference before commiting to a trade. Also, remember to discount penny trades ;-)
Having said that, everyone starts with Zero feedback, so use your judgement and instinct.
Payment
If you are making a deposit to your buyer, make sure the bank account belongs to your seller and not a third party. There is loophole for the seller to escape if he is using another person's account.
Cash On Delivery / Self-Collection
Insist on this if you do not trust your seller or if the item is too fragile to be shipped.
If the seller is unable to comply with your request, then move to another seller.
Other Risks
Even with a 100% genuine seller, there are other risks, for example:
~ Package goes missing in transit
~ Item is damaged during delivery
What recourse does a victim of such an online scam have?
Well, this is a tough one as online trading is still in its infancy in Malaysia.
The best thing is to lodge a police report with all relevant information, with print-out of all e-mail or private message correspondence and also the receipt of bank deposit.
It is better to go in a group (together with other victims) rather than each making individual reports.
Although the police may not be able to help instantly, at least do your part and let these conmen know that their scam job is officially recorded.
One point to note is, WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND.
Thursday 9 February 2006
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