Recommendations to avoid falling into scams when shopping online for summer – 2024-03-13 23:19:18

Year following year, online shopping stands out in increasing consumer preferences to obtain necessary items for each season of the year, in this case for this summer season.

However, it must be taken into account that one of the disadvantages of purchasing through electronic commerce is the risk of falling into scams and losing money or being a victim of credit card cloning.

Given this context, Mario Porres, general manager of Guatemala Digital, an e-commerce platform in the country, shared some key recommendations to avoid inconveniences and achieve a good experience when purchasing products or services online:

• Buy from well-known sites, preferably where they already have references from other people who have purchased without problems before.
• Review reviews and testimonials, as well as verify, if any, the customer opinions and press references section. A good exercise is to search the Internet for reports, news or similar regarding the online store.
• Check if the site has a secure connection, in this case it is necessary to notice that the URL, link or link begins with https, the (s) It means the site is secure.
• Protect personal information, do not give more data than is necessary to execute the order.
• The usual data to provide are: name of the person receiving the product, delivery address, contact telephone number, if you are going to pay by credit card it is usually through a payment link.
• Request an invoice to be sure it is a legal online store.
• Use secure payment methods and prefer sites that offer payment on delivery.

Shopping outside Guatemala

The official Amazon site provides six tips to avoid fraud and scams both on its platform and in other international online stores:

• Check your purchases. If you receive any type of message regarding a purchase that you are not familiar with, instead of responding or opening a link, what you should do is log into your account and check your purchase history, since all the information regarding your orders will appear there . So if nothing appears regarding the message received, it might be a scam.
• Work with secure sources. In general, international online shopping platforms never request any payment-related information by any means other than the mobile app, website, or a physical store. If you receive a payment request by any other means, do not take any action as it may be a scam.
• Don’t get carried away by urgency. On many occasions, scammers try to create a sense of urgency to convince people to take action and obtain sensitive information. Do not get carried away by this urgency and avoid providing private information by any means other than the application, website or physical store.
• Be careful with gift cards. In general, international e-commerce platforms will never ask for payments with gift cards, so you should be alert if you receive these types of requests or demands to make payments for your purchases.
• Get in touch. If you have any questions regarding whether a message, call, or request is part of fraud, please contact customer service directly through the online store’s app or website. Do not call or send messages to any number that you have not obtained from official channels and keep in mind that, in general, international e-commerce stores do not ask you to download any software to connect with customer service, and if they ask you to do this , don’t do it, it is surely a fraud.
• Monitor other experiences. You can use a scam tracker to learn regarding other users’ experiences that may be similar to yours. These tools help identify the veracity of the facts and information you receive through the experiences of other users.

E-commerce in Guatemala growing

The electronic commerce department of the Guatemalan Chamber of Commerce (CCG) shared that this type of purchase continues to grow in double digits, an average of 35% each year, in relation to sales.

This is an industry in constant growth and is transversal, covering all lines of business and service. In addition, they have identified a list of the categories most in demand by Guatemalans during high demand seasons:

• Technology
• Moda
• Accessories
• Beauty

In terms of services, the country has had greater growth, especially in:

• Banking system
• Hotel and travel reservations
• Restaurants

In this first quarter of the year, online purchases outside Guatemala or croos border mainly in:

• Amazon
• Aliexpress
• Alibaba

According to data from CCG’s e-commerce department, for six years, this type of buying and selling has grown faster and since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, it grew by up to 108%.

Register here for the virtual masterclass for digital subscribers “Low investment franchises in Guatemala: Where to start?” this Thursday, March 21 at 6 p.m.