Kenya’s Communications Authority (CA) has asked online shoppers to be on the look-out to avoid falling prey to e-commerce fraudsters that have created look-a-like shopping websites and mobile applications.
The regulator said unscrupulous individuals are enticing unsuspecting buyers with non-existent deals.
“The online shopping criminals entice unsuspecting buyers through deals via email, SMS, social media pages and telephone. They also request a registration fee for goods or services. Watch out for unavailable physical addresses, customer care helplines, suspicious telephone numbers, email addresses and websites,” the statement read.
Kenyans now need to take precautionary measures by verifying information about online shops before making any payments, desisting from sending money to phone numbers that pose as sales representatives and avoiding mobile apps with unverified sources.