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Another cyberism lurks on the Internet. This time, online stores lure customers with tempting offers and just before the last step to complete the order they add incredible quantities for delivery. They depend on the carelessness of consumers and when they pay, there is no way to get in touch with the merchant. How fraud happens – says Victoria Boyadzhieva.
Nice bag at a good promotional price in a perfectly organized place. At first glance, Maria Balabanova sees this.
However, it turns out that this is yet another hook thrown into the sea by online scams.
“I saw that you can only pay by card. No cash on delivery. From there I remembered that something was wrong. It made the strongest impression on me that until I enter all the details, I do not see what the delivery is. You must enter an address , phone and then calculate the delivery of BGN 999. I saw this large amount and I gave up, ”said the victim María Balabanova.
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In the general conditions of the site it is written that the price of delivery is 20 leva. However, almost BGN 1,000 is added to the account in exactly the last step, one click after completing the order.
“After seeing that there were no more contacts than an email, I assumed that it was about collecting personal data,” the woman explained.
It turns out that this is not the only site where such a trap is placed. Maria finds 3 of them.
“I did a Google search on the same photo to see if the particular bag was available elsewhere. In the end, it turned out that it is available on various sites. In all deliveries it was BGN 1,000. The logo and email were different, “added Maria.
Images of the products of these three sites can be found in many other foreign online stores: Greek, Hungarian, Romanian. The experience of cyber specialists shows that photos are often stolen, these products do not exist at all and are actually marketed with the naivete of the user.
The sheer number of deliveries surprised even Lyubomir Tulev, a cyber expert with his many years of practice. Note that during all the steps, the system indicates that the shipping price will be calculated later. The consumer only sees the price of the product, so they are deceiving themselves by making a very profitable purchase until the end.
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The shipping cost is set with a code, regardless of the product or the user’s location.
Maria did not inform the Consumer Protection Commission because she did not make a payment. However, it turns out that he still had reasons to refer the matter to the institutions, because there is a violation of the law.
“Even in the process in which the consumer is deceived, just in the penultimate step before making the payment in question. That is the moment when a signal can be given, “added Tulev.
Inspection by cyber specialist Lyubomir Tulev, who is and is a former CDCOC employee in the cybercrime department, shows that it is no accident that the sites appear identical. Behind them is the same name: Bulgarian. At our signal, the Consumer Protection Commission also inspected.
“This is an unfair practice from the point of view of our functions and we are currently looking for the trader,” said Dimitar Margaritov, president of the CPC.
In this case, the fine is BGN 1,000 to BGN 30,000, but the fact that we have come up with a Bulgarian name does not mean that we have found the fraudster. That person may not exist at all.
“Although the domain ends in bg, the signal is hosted in Canada and at the moment we expect the Bulgarian institutions to provide us with information about a specific person and which merchant is behind the name Ivan Ivanov. It is probably an attempt to steal data and steal one. large amount of money, “explained Margaritov.
Even a single email address can lead to a bank account. And especially to the amounts that are in it, says the president of the commission. According to him, in this case it can take months to find the fraudster if he is not Bulgarian. But what can someone who has paid 999 BGN for delivery do during this time?
“Unfortunately, in this case, the user has very limited actions. In addition to contacting the competent authorities, he can also contact his bank, which is the issuer of his debit or credit card, and tell him that he has just been a victim of online fraud, or that the bank should block this payment. The quick reaction of consumers is very important, “added Tulev.
That is, the consumer will get his money back only after proving the fraud, and only if he felt it in time.
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