Online business has become a lucrative source of income for some middle-income earners. In fact, online business also has widened the opportunities for the university students to earn extra income to finance their studies. Furthermore, shopping has become easier with online business. Click on the items to be purchased and soon it will arrive at your destination. Everything is just at the fingertips.

Purchasing items through social sites like Facebook and Instagram seem simple and easier to certain people who have a tight schedule every day.

However, online business is at risk of online fraud. Online business has become a site for some unscrupulous people to commit various tactics of fraud. Previously, most of the cases reported only involved the buyers been deceived by the online sellers.

The most common scams are the confusing advertisement, offering the lowest price to the customers and the item received is different from what have been ordered. But now, the situation is slightly different where the sellers also could be the victim of the online fraud.

A few cases have been reported regarding online sellers being deceived by the irresponsible buyers. Normally, fraudsters will trick the online sellers during the money transaction using automated teller machines (ATMs). The fraudsters will snap a picture of a fake transaction receipt.

Most of the fraudsters are sweet-talkers and would always give numerous excuses and promises. Apart from that, they also would always make up sad stories to get sympathy from the victims. Sometimes, they will act as a serious buyer/seller; they willingly give out details about themselves, but unfortunately the information given is false.

Dealing through online is trickier than dealing directly since it will give some time to the fraudsters to come out with another trick such as making up another sad story or maybe they will blame the postage service. In fact, it will be difficult to trace them as they could hide their true identity by giving the false information and fake profile picture.

Most of the victims of online fraud will only realise it once the money has been transferred to the scammers or after they received the goods. Then most of the fraudsters will block the victims on social media and mobile applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and WeChat, thus making it more difficult for the victims to trace them and collect evidence for a police report.

Therefore, in order to control the online fraud, the government, in collaboration with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), has required all dealers who do business on Facebook, Mudah.my, websites, blogspots, Instagram and mobile applications to register their businesses with SSM. Failure to register can be prosecuted and fined.

Online sellers must also register with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to prove that the dealer is honest in his business as well as to give confidence their clients. If the seller commits online fraud, the buyer should lodge a complaint at the Tribunal for Consumer Claims Malaysia. Meanwhile for sellers, they could submit their complaints to the authorities.

These online fraudsters will always adapt their way of scamming and they will never reveal their true identity to the public. Therefore, the dealers and buyers should always bear in mind to be more careful when doing online business. It is recommended for the authorities to monitor the fraudsters regularly. In conclusion, the user should be a smart user when shopping.

NUR IMANI ABDULLAH is research and policy executive, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca), Petaling Jaya.