FRAUD TRANSACTION AND DELIVERY: SHOPPERS ARE WORRIED

A number of online shoppers have voiced out their fear of buying goods online due to online fraud. There are numerous reports regarding fraud occurring in our country. Online shoppers reported that they did not hear any updates from the sellers by the time they have made the payment. Other than the sellers terminating their contact numbers or websites, they would deliver items which failed to meet the requirements as advertised on the digital marketplaces, leading the customers to ultimate disappointment. 

Moreover, there is a case where a scammer manages to access a depositor’s bank account to conduct his criminal activity. The scammer who disguised himself as a loan agent, had persuaded 200 people to deposit their money into the complainant’s bank account for RM1000 scooters he advertised on FaceBook. The complainant who realized his account had been so active with money going in and out was left with charges as those depositors had pressed charges against him. Unfortunately, the person committing the crime vanished with the loan processing fee and due to the small amounts involved, the reluctance of the victims to lodge police reports had prompt these scammers to pursue their illicit trade without being traced (Mukhtar et al, 2016).

Hence, before successfully enrolling these businesses or individuals on digital marketplaces, they need to be authorized first. The details of the company or individual, company registration number, identity card, company address and bank account statement should be acquired beforehand. These documents can beneficial when it comes to performing a verification check. Even though these online scammers would provide a false information, this measure would impede them from continuing their activities due to the high level of security. 

CUSTOMERS WHO LOVE ONLINE SHOPPING: WHAT ARE OUR RIGHTS FOR FAIRER DIGITAL MARKETPLACES?

From the previous year, it was reported that e-commerce sales has reached up to the amount of 2.29 trillion (USD) globally and the amount is expected to climbed up to 4.49 trillion (USD), which would be double the existing value by 2021. Consumers from all walks of life for could buy or book anything online. For example, due to the booming of e-commerce in Pakistan, working women are doing most of their shopping online (The Tribune Express, 2018). We can see that e-commerce has change how the way people shop, offering customers more options apart from creating products and services accessible. 

Although this might seem interesting, 70% of online customers are feel that there still issues arising namely scams or fraud whenever they are making online transactions when purchasing goods over the internet (The Express Tribune, 2018). Some people still disapprove the idea of online shopping as they fear unexpected and dishonest costs, illegal and fraudulent scams or unfair, unclear and confusing business practices. Consequently, the digital economy could be experiencing a significant impediment in further development if consumers do not trust businesses. It is no use for companies to serve so many choices on such a convenient scale never seen if the customers feel discouraged from using the advanced technology. 

Hence, there is an obligation to consider a customer perspective to the policy framework because it is vital to gain trust in e-commerce as compared to the traditional way of business. A few steps have been implemented to combat this issue which include developing supportive financial services regulations, provide import and export regulations as well as establish and regulate e-commerce establishments. Furthermore, when customers are provided with a strong, safe and secure internet access across the country, customers shall feel safe and confident when online shopping. Plus, business companies should address clear terms and conditions, fair pricing and good redress procedures as growth on the supply-side of the digital market presupposes consumer trust on the demand-side of the market. Business companies, especially in Malaysia, need to have a strong e-commerce policy which benefits both parties where the business can be safeguarded while at the same time focusing on the customers.

LOOK OUT! DANGER AHEAD!

Internet is widely used as a tool to conduct research, browsing through social media, new and online shopping. Malaysia is reportedly having the highest penetration of online shoppers, encompassing of 19 million users supporting a business worth RM 25bil and the is predicted to double by 2020. Malaysians are lucky enough to experience the luxury of shopping online, price advantages, exclusive deals and availability of reviews. These days, booking flight ticket or movie tickets, paying school fees and making telegraphic transfers online and within minutes in the comfort of our homes. Also, it is unlikely for a customer who perform online transaction to get caught in a scam or encounter any problems if they follow the instructions correctly or do not get conned by phishing sites. However, the risk is higher when consumers make a purchase through social media when they have to deal with small companies or individuals who do not provide sufficient security features or secure payment methods. 

The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) reported that it has received approximately 50 complaints of online scams in 2017. Furthermore, the organization believes that the actual number could be much greater because some complainants would just feel discouraged to carry on the issue further. In addition, the complainants would be carrying another burden where the expenses incurred were a lot compared to the claims they were after. Moreover, according to Kuala Lumpur Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief ACP Mohd Luthfi, the backgrounds of the victims are the same where they are individuals who were urgently seeking for financial aid. Plus, these victims were tricked with the appealing terms found on advertisements set up on social media sites such as low interest rate, no guarantor, immediate approval and hassle-free applications, especially for applicants who were blacklisted by banks. 

The irresponsible scammers would run away with the loan processing fee. What is even worse, because of the amount to be rather small, victims felt that it was not necessary to lodge a police report. This in turn would make the scammers to even further their act as no action is taken. Next, as scammers are getting even more cunning as the technology evolves, there are so many new tactics they could use on us. Recently, automated teller machines (ATM) in Malaysia have been hacked by overseas hackers all because of the obsolete operating systems. 

So, what can we do about this?

As a consumer who does online shopping most of the time, we need to be aware of what is criminal issues which are currently happening in the cyber world. On top of that, it is advisable for users to not make any online transactions when they are out public places. Although quick response (QR) codes come in handy most of the time, we need to be extra careful because irresponsible parties could be embedding their own codes instead of the real ones. Meanwhile, the authorities could educate the society at large by updating the statistics on cybercrimes and ways to prevent them. Those who committed this crime should be tracked down and given a hefty sum of penalties so that this crime activities could be put to a halt. Lastly, banks should always update their operating systems regularly to avoid from being hacked.

KEEPING UP WITH THE DIGITAL MARKETS CONSUMERS

As many people are continuously demanding for better, faster and cheaper products or services, businesses must always find new ways to come up with the next best thing consumers will want. Businesses must learn to keep up with the new types of consumer needs and trends as these are proven to be contributing to the companies’ survival and success. The e-commerce prospect in Malaysia and the Asia region are predicted to be profitable in the future. 

Furthermore, the engagement of Malaysian Governments and regulatory bodies on a massive platform has provided guidelines to merchants to make use of e-commerce systematically by imposing e-commerce laws, policy and regulations. Apart from that, this action manages to provide protection for customers who are into e-commerce. As technology is always emerging, e-commerce in Malaysia is always moving forward and becoming a vital tool especially to businesses. 

Consumers and businesses should take precautions when dealing with e-commerce. This is to ensure that any malpractices such as false claim, scams and fake products can be curbed. Other than building a sense of security and awareness, the actions taken act as reminder to the consumers and business entities where they are always protected by Malaysia’s law, acts and regulations. There is no escape for them to commit any wrongdoing since their actions are being watched by the authorities.  

Should any customers encounter any unethical behavior by the other party, they should make a report without any hesitation. It is advisable for cheated consumers to lodge a report within 24 hours once the fraud activity has been identified. If both parties have agreed on a certain price offered, the online transaction should be made without a hassle and the delivery of the item should be made immediately. It is also recommended to assure the buyers that their purchases will be arriving in a good condition in a short period of time so that they will not feel distressed after performing online shopping. 

Additionally, e-commerce is mainly facilitated by technology that comes with network, hardware and applications. We need to ensure that the devices are equipped with a high level of protection to ensure information security of e-commerce. Also, the security products should be tested by other independent and trusted party to validate if they are reliable. Besides that, the Malaysian Common Criteria Scheme (MyCC) was initiated to elevate the competitiveness in quality assurance of information security through the deployment of the Common Criteria (CC) standard as well as to gain the consumer confidence in Malaysian information security product and systems. On top of that, the laboratory use for testing purposes are always on the go to conduct CC evaluation to local information security product and is now being accredited with MS ISO 17025.

KEEPING DIGITAL MARKET FAIR AND SECURE

When we do online shopping, there are other issues that we might encounter which are differ from the traditional way of offline shopping. One might encounter with cybercrime activities such as intrusion, spam and malicious code. In Malaysia, financial fraud activities in cyberspace has reached between 40% to 50%, which has cost losses an amount of more than half a billion ringgit in two years. Moreover, RM60 million was lost to scammers in just 3 months shy into 2018. Due to the openness of the internet which could be poisoning to us, there are several measures that should be paid attention to so that we, Malaysian, will not be fallen as victims of cybercrime.  

Firstly, we should get as many and detailed information on the security of online shopping, ‘chatting’, e-mail and online scams as possible. The extensive use of technology has allowed us to perform all sorts of online transaction be it trading, paying bills and so forth. However, as a consumer, we should always keep in mind to carry out a thorough research and analyze the product available online prior purchasing it online. Also, it is advisable for consumers to read the disclaimer before filling any forms made online to make legal dealing easier. Plus, consumers are advised to leave the transaction should the disclaimer is unavailable. Consumers also should ensure that the websites they visited are with the original and official URLs and avoid opening links from an email service as this could pose as threat. 

The authorities should be stepping in by tightening the legal enforcement so that the it can adapt the present-day challenges as the cybercrimes activities are at an alarming rate. Numerous laws are being introduce such as Computer Crime Act (Act 563), Optical Disc Act 2000, Digital Signature Act (Act 562) and Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, all with the same objective, which is to promote the cyber security culture to the Malaysian society. Furthermore, in 2006, our government has built the Institute of International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT) due to the global awareness of cyber threat. However, the current cyber law is unable to get rid of cybercrimes as cyber criminals are getting smarter with technological advances. Incident such as money theft through credit card numbers, exploitation of data from database are still remained undefeated by our existing cyber law. 

Finally, banks should make sure that all matters prepared are guaranteed to have high security features. One of the examples include the digital certificate obtained from Malaysia Cybersecurity. This certificate enables immediate identification of every website forgery. The existence of this certificate will discourage unethical individuals from pursuing their act in cybercrimes. 

Hence, we need to come hand in hand to minimize this ongoing difficult issue. Although it is tough to combat as various modus operandi resurface each time, we as consumers need to be observant on the current issues all the time. Avoid believing matter without proof and sales that are of lacking of its nature and condition. Furthermore, we need to be careful when we stumbled upon offers made by any other parties over the internet. Hopefully, the measures taken could provide us fairer and safer digital marketplaces where consumers are able to harness the full benefits of digitization.

COMBATING THE CHALLENGES OF ONLINE MARKETPLACES

One might ask, “Who is the regulator of digital market place?” or “Who is in charge of the consumer grievances due to internet fraud?” Well, Malaysia has introduced a set of e-commerce regulations based on a combination of the Electronic Commerce Act 2006 and the Electronic Government Activities Act 2007. The government also suggests that the contents in the e-commerce legislation are needed to be reviewed in order to adjust to any modification in technology as well as social networking and mobile applications. Plus, Malaysia has a prolific number of consumers who take the advantages of mobile phone where in 2011, it was reported that Malaysian constituted 61% of internet users in Asia (Mukhtar et al, 2016).

According to Bohme and Moore (2012), the likelihood of reducing online shopping among consumers who experienced cybercrimes previously has increased by 10%. Furthermore, the alarming number of cybercrimes has cause major concerns among consumers where 18% of them stated to reduce the activity of online shopping while 50% of them claimed to be extra cautious when buying things over the internet. As consumers feel discourage to make use of the online marketplaces, this could be causing a harmful effect to e-commerce businesses which could hinder them from expanding. Thus, Malaysia has look beyond this issue by establishing an Internet Banking Task Force and Malaysian Cyber Security Agency with an aim to encourage the consumers to do online shopping by heightening their confidence with the presence of strong internet security. 

Also, Malaysia Central Bank (BNM) called for the implementation of EuroPay Master card-Visa standard for transactions involving credit cards back in 2005. Furthermore, minimum risk management requirements are introduced for all types of electronic banking which consist of two-factor authorization. Malaysia too does not miss the opportunity to join the bandwagon of introducing e-commerce laws, policies and regulating e-commerce transactions internationally by participating in Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC). The aforementioned measures are expected to build a more convenient e-commerce environment in Malaysia as the health of the economy would deteriorate if consumers are declining the use of digital marketplaces. The authorities or organizations in Malaysia play significant roles in regulating Malaysian e-commerce environment and hopefully, one day, our e-commerce will grow and be on the same level to those in the United States or other advanced e-commerce destinations. 

FIGHTING CYBERCRIMES

The Electronic Commerce Act 2006 remains as one of the essentials primary source of electronic commerce directory for the private sector. The act has been improved by the existence of Electronic Government Activities Act 2007, which considers the same matter to those belong in the government sector. In addition, the Electronic Commerce Act 2006 is not another new act but it is in fact identical to the United Nations Electronic Communications Conventions. Furthermore, digital signatures are protected by the Digital Signature Act 1997 whereas the Electronic Commerce Act 2006 focuses on electronic signatures. 

As consumers, we should all be familiar with the Consumer Protection Act. Apart from demanding the minimum product standards, with this act, we have the rights against repression practices. In 2007, an amendment has been made to this act where it has expanded its focus to provide protection in e-commerce transactions. Due to the many issues of internet security, once again this act has been reviewed to improve the standard safety condition for services while security to consumers in a regular form contract. In addition, the effort of boosting the consumers’ confidence to perform online shopping can be seen through the implementation of Consumer Protection Regulations 2012. The guidelines highlight the requirement on online sellers and online marketplace operators, which are viewed to have a positive impact to our country’s e-commerce growth. 

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) was founded to regulate the information technology and communication industries. The Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 drives the Commission with a powerful authority to manage online speech and preventing individuals from releasing indecent or false promotion with the intention of threatening or harassing any other individual. Although the Malaysian Government has vowed not to censor the internet, those who fail to obey this may be facing criminal penalties. 

There are exactly 4 categories of activities related to unauthorized entry into computer systems which are barred by the Computer Crimes Act 1997. According to section 3, this includes the act of committing with the intention of securing unauthorized access to programs or data stored in any computer. Next, section 4 explains on the act of intending to secure unauthorized access to programs or data stored in any computer in order to commit fraud or dishonesty. Meanwhile, section 5 elaborates on the acts committed with the knowledge that the act will prompt unauthorized modification of the content of any computer. Lastly, section 6 mentions the unethical communication of any password, code or means of access to a computer to any person who is not authorized to receive the same. Although these provisions are concerning to computer crimes field, the provisions in e-commerce laws and copyright laws have complemented the legislation of Malaysia’s cybercrime, at the same time more appropriate with international standards.