Internet access has made it easier for people to do a lot of things from the comfort of their homes and one of those is online shopping.
Online shopping has become an essential part of everyone’s daily life, and companies realise that the internet can be a shopping channel to reach existing and potential consumers.
The rise of online shopping, however, means online fraud has become a reality as more people are being scammed online.
The Sebenza SAPS communications officer, Sergeant Sharon Mahamba-Tsotsotso said a few people have come to the station to open cases related to online shopping.
“People must stop buying things online and if they are going to shop online, they need to make sure that the company they are buying from is legit. People see an advert online and buy only to find the advert has been taken down and the phones are disconnected once they have sent the money,” said Sgt Tsotsotso.
She said people are losing thousands of Rands in these online adverts and it is difficult to investigate because addresses used to advertise are usually incorrect.
“A man recently came to the station to report that he had purchased items to the value of R47 000 from a website but after making the payment, no delivery was made and phones were disconnected. When the police went to the address given, the address belonged to another company,” said Sgt Tsotsotso.
