MALAYSIANS lost more than RM360 million to fraud last year, the bulk of complaints coming from buyers of products and services in the housing and property sector, the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) said.

The figure is derived from complaints lodged with NCCC.

NCCC official Saravanan Thambirajah said the centre received over 54,000 complaints from consumers last year, problems with online shopping and e-commerce being the most common.

He said faulty renovations, defective property and project delays make up for about 3,400 complaints with a total of RM133.56 million in losses.

Losses from fraudulent e-commerce transactions last year come up to RM11.93 million, said Saravanan, who is also Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations CEO.
 
These complaints include refunds, scams and late delivery of online purchases and are expected to increase in the coming years as shopping on the internet becomes more popular, he added.

“E-commerce tops the (list) with the most complaints received since 2014 and the number of complaints increase every year.”

Last year, 10,615 complaints on e-commerce were lodged, an increase from 7,641 in 2014, when the NCCC created a separate category to track e-commerce transactions.

Over half the consumers who experienced problems on e-commerce platforms had shopped on social media from merchants who did not register with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM).

“By law, anyone who wants to sell products online must register with CCM, and this includes those trading on facebook and other social media,” said another NCCC official Shabana Naseer.

“Which is why we do not encourage people to shop on these platforms and if you do shop, be very wary and careful. 

“Check to see whether that person has a CCM registration number,” said Shabana, who is Fomca legal adviser. The NCCC is a partner to Fomca.

Those selling products online must also state clearly the name, the price, the delivery period and the name of the trader, said Shabana.

Not getting refunds topped the list of complaints received in the e-commerce sector and these included consumers not receiving refunds even for damaged goods and late deliveries.

“The problem is that the refund process takes too long and when consumers complain they keep being told ‘it will come soon’. When in reality the refund does not come and the customer is forced to give up,” Shabana said.

Consumers must also be extra wary of buying goods from foreign online merchants, as they are outside the ambit of Malaysian law.

“Often times, it is difficult to seek redress in these situations, even if we complain to the consumers association or an authority in that country. But even then, it is hard,” said Shabana.  

Online scams were the second highest type of complaints in e-commerce, where bogus merchants would disappear after taking money from consumers.

“We cannot say, don’t buy from merchants on social media. But we are saying, be very wary and vigilant. It is safer to buy from legitimate and registered online merchants.”

In the NCCC 2018 report, the sector which saw the second highest number of complaints was physical retail services, with 5,159 cases, while telecommunications was third highest, with 4,950 cases.

Travel and leisure came in fourth, at 4,411 complaints, general consumer products was fifth at 4,268, while the cars and repair workshops came in sixth at 4,070.

Housing and property complaints were seventh on the list, despite the fact they were the highest in terms of value.

One fourth of all 3,465 complaints in the property sector were related to faulty renovations, while defective properties and project delays came in at 11.11% and 9.52% respectively.

The number of complaints has reduced but the value of such complaints has gone up because of the higher prices for goods in the sector, said Fomca’s Saravanan.

“About 70% of the complaints concerning renovations came from consumers who did not use licensed and registered contractors.”

The NCCC can be contacted at 03 7877 9000 or [email protected]. – October 2, 2019.