Police warn people of internet shopping

The police have warned people of internet shopping, if the products are sold at a rock bottom price.

The police said internet is a popular but risky shopping place. If anyone intends to buy items that are sold in a hurry and at rock-bottom prices, the buyer may be conned, said a recent press release.

The seller’s details may be incorrect or the item being sold may not even exist.

“Most internet frauds are online sales frauds or online order frauds. While online sales frauds typically occur between private individuals, most online order fraud cases involve a buyer trying to buy merchandise from a business by using false identification or credit card information,” said Chief Superintendent Jyrki Aho of the National Police Board.

An online sales fraud requires a bank account at which the perpetrator receives the sales fee – despite the risk of being caught, said the police official, adding that the bank account is usually the perpetrator’s own.

“Some criminals use bank accounts that so-called straw persons provide for criminal purposes for a small payment. The police typically investigate these as money laundering cases,” Jyrki Aho added.

According to him, 95 per cent of internet fraud cases involve the sale of a non-existent product.

“The buyer wonders for a while why the product he/she bought has not arrived. Then the buyer tries to contact the seller by e-mail or telephone. In many cases the seller cannot be reached or exchanges messages with the buyer for a while after payment, explaining why the delivery is delayed,” he said, adding that sometimes, the perpetrator sends a product to the buyer which is completely different to what it was supposed to be. The weight of the package is right, the content is not.

In 2017, the police have recorded almost 9,000 cases of internet fraud and payment fraud. Almost 1,400 of these cases occurred abroad. The number of cases has begun to fall this year.

“I think people are now increasingly aware of the risks of online shopping and internet scams, such as risks involved in free product offers and various types of competitions. If they give their credit card details for the purpose of postage charges, for example, they often find that they have taken out some kind of membership that involves costs,” said the chief superintendent.

The law-enforcing agency urged people to beware of signals such as sellers who are in a hurry, offer rock-bottom prices and have a foreign bank account or fail to answer their inquiries or provide information about themselves.

“If you do not get answers to your questions or become suspicious, do not buy,” Aho added.