Sharp increase in online shopping fraud

Police investigate dozens of cases

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A computer screen costing nearly EUR 300 was supposed to arrive in a week. The buyer, who paid for the purchase by credit card on line, was worried when the device did not arrive, and he contacted the seller. The response was just silence, and he had no luck when he asked that the goods be either delivered, or that he should get his money back. The consumer, a Helsinki resident, contacted the police.
      Now the police in Helsinki are investigating the matter and dozens of others like it as cases of fraud.
      “There has been a sharp increase in online retail fraud. Last year at the same time there had been only a few isolated cases. Now in Helsinki there are already between 30 and 50, and more and more are constantly popping up. On the national level we are talking about hundreds of cases”, says Detective Chief Inspector Juha Laaksonen of the Helsinki Police.
     
The number of reports concerning problems with online retailing has also increased in the Finnish Consumer Agency. Last week the agency warned about two online retailers who had failed to deliver the goods that a customer had asked for. The businesses in question were Elektroni.fi, which sells electronics, and Sadkitten.com, which sells clothing. Laaksonen says that Elektroni.fi is under investigation for fraud.
      The greatest number of complaints concern sites selling electronics and clothing.
      Most of the cases under investigation involve online businesses set up by individual people.
     
Laaksonen urges consumers to be vigilant, because setting up a phony online shop is relatively easy. There is plenty of software available on line which allows the user to produce credible-looking web pages in a short time.
      “Typically a business will operate for just a couple of weeks. When the reputation of the name suffers, the same people will set up another site under a different name."
      Laaksonen says that most of the cases currently under investigation concern sites set up in Finland.


Links:
  Consumer Agency press release 10.08.11: Online retailers Elektroni.fi and Sadkitten.com have not delivered their customers’ orders

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