Deceptive businesses : Growth in e-commerce opens door for various online frauds

The last decade has seen a significant increase in digital penetration in Pakistan, which has also come as a boon for the local e-commerce industry. Hundreds of thousands of businesses have occupied the internet, offering bumper deals, discounts and the convenience of home delivery.

However, this expansion of the e-commerce culture has also paved way for various kinds of online frauds, ranging from credit card hacks to commercial skulduggery by dubious businesses with no brick and mortar outlets, making them hard to trace.

Despite the uptick in such activities, reporting online fraud still remains an uphill battle for most victims of the crime owing to the lack of information on where and how to file a complaint.

For most people, reporting to the police seems to be the most apparent option. However, the police seldom knows what to do with such cases, and directs complainants to contact the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The FIA on the other hand presents another knotty affair, with long waiting time and a slow pace of investigation. Per FIA sources, this is due to a shortfall in experienced investigators and thousands of pending cases, many of which are categorised as malum in se. “The officers who get training in this regard are transferred, due to which the newly deployed officers are facing difficulties in the investigation of cybercrime. This kind of cybercrime ranges from frauds of ten thousand to one million rupees but the number of cybercrimes is increasing day by day,” elaborated an unnamed FIA source.

Per a survey of online public communities created for reporting and creating awareness about online fraud, clothing businesses appear to take the top spot for most double-dealings on the internet, with women being the most likely victims.

One victim of this fraud, Rehana Ahmed from Baghbanpura, Lahore said that she’d ordered clothes and shoes worth Rs18,000 for her children from a Facebook page. The business she ordered from advertised a transparent easy-return and refund policy, which was her lure. “When I got the parcel however, the delivery boy did not let me open the package without full payment. Eventually when I opened the package, it was full of substandard, ill-fitted and likely used clothes, none of which matched the articles I ordered,” she complained, adding that the business denied her a refund and she had no way of contacting them beyond the internet in absence of a physical store location.

A lot of such businesses are even harder to trace because they operate from locations out of the city, which puts them beyond the jurisdiction of local authorities. The most prominent frauds like such seem to deal with business selling electronic goods and accessories, which can cost thousands of rupees. Abdullah, a resident of Gulberg who had ordered a mobile phone and some laptop accessories from an online page, said that he was ripped off by a business operating from Karachi. “When the goods were shipped, none of it was what I had ordered and paid for online. I tried reaching out to the business on their Whatsapp number but received no response,” he told of his ordeal, adding that it was a mistake to blindly trust an online business.

However, more seasoned e-commerce shoppers who are aware of fraudulent activities like this tend to observe caution when dealing with online-only businesses. “Not all businesses on the internet are dubious but one has to observe caution and follow protocol,” says experienced online shopper Ambrain Fatima. Sharing her modus operandi for online buying, she said that she only orders from registered businesses and always checks reviews by other shoppers before making the purchase. “Another pro-tip is to personally speak to a representative of the business at the time of order confirmation and to always choose cash-on-delivery if anything seems amiss. I always make sure that I open and check the package before making the payment and deny taking it if I’m not convinced,” she told The Express Tribune.

The FIA spokesperson had been contacted for further clarity on the growth of such crimes on the internet and the authorities’ action against them. However, no response has so far been received from the agency in the regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2022.