The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) has urged the public to report to law enforcement agencies cases of online shopping scams.
“Mas mabuti kung i-report natin iyan sa awtoridad, sa cybercrime units ng National Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, at ng Philippine National Police (It would be better to report such scams to the authorities like the cybercrime units of the National Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice and Philippine National Police),” FLAG Chairperson Jose Manuel “Chel” L. Diokno said in his social media post.
“Magpatulong tayo para ma-trace ang may-ari ng website (Ask for help to trace the identities of the owners of the website),” Diokno said.
He said the victims can also seek assistance from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and social media platforms which can identify the scammers.
He lamented that with online scams, the identities of the perpetrators are not known.
“Kasi iyong face to face na transaction, kilala mo ang kausap mo. Pero iyong online transaction, hindi mo nga alam kung totoong tao iyan o kung totoo ang pangalan na ibigay sa iyo (In face to face transactions, you know who you are dealing with. But in online transactions, you don’t know if he or she is a real person or if the name given is real),” he said.
“Kahit na magpadala pa ng ID iyan, hindi mo pa rin malalaman kung totoong siya nga ang nasa likod ng website na iyan (Even if the person sends an identification card, you still don’t know if that is the person behind the website),” he added.
Thus, he also urged the public to check the identity of the seller, how long has she or he been engaged in business, and how many are the reviews on the seller.
Usual “red flags” in online shopping scams are the “very low prices and no cash on delivery,” he added.