Online Shopping: Benefits and Risks

Online shopping is a convenient and popular form of shopping today. With many benefits such as saving time, convenience and product diversity, online shopping is popular with consumers. However, shoppers need to be alert to the risks and disadvantages of online shopping such as buying fake goods, poor quality goods, and even fraud when online shopping fraud is becoming more and more common.

Lose real money, get virtual goods

Mr. Hoang Tran Thanh, Ha Phong Ward (Ha Long City) is a person who often buys online through major e-commerce platforms because of the convenience and competitive prices. However, recently, he has been constantly bothered by calls impersonating delivery staff.

Mr. Thanh shared: I don't understand how they knew I was waiting for an order. They called right when I or my family was busy, informed me that the goods had arrived and asked me to transfer money in advance or come and pick them up right away. Once, because I was busy, I quickly transferred money, then they even tricked me into clicking on the link to confirm the order. Luckily, I was alert at that time, otherwise I would have lost more than the initial small amount. But there are also acquaintances of mine in Cam Pha who were scammed out of nearly 2 million VND in this way.

Online shopping has become an indispensable need today.

Accordingly, the tricks of the scammers impersonating delivery people are usually to call during office hours, when customers are busy with work and are most likely to lose their vigilance. The Criminal Police Department (Provincial Police) said that in January 2025, the unit received a report from Ms. S (the victim's name has been changed), (born in 1991, residing in Quang Yen Town) about her being scammed by a subject impersonating a shipper and losing more than 500 million VND.

Specifically, at the end of December 2024, Ms. S received a call from the phone number 0353709963, introducing herself as Tai, working as a shipper and informing her that she had an order for acne medicine worth 260,000 VND. Trusting the subject, Ms. S asked her mother-in-law, Ms. M, also residing in Quang Yen town, to transfer the above amount to account 9379403691 under the name Nguyen Van Dat provided by the subject. 2 days later, Tai called Ms. S to inform her that he had mistakenly sent the account number of the Saving Delivery Company. The amount of 260,000 VND that Ms. S transferred was considered the membership registration fee and Ms. S had become a member, so Tai was suspended from work for 1 week and asked Ms. S to help cancel the membership card. Immediately after that, a subject claiming to be the warehouse owner contacted Ms. S to ask about the incident and then instructed her to cancel the membership card. The subject used many tricks such as asking to pay fines, asking to deposit security, notifying the money transfer with incorrect syntax to ask Ms. S to transfer money many times to many accounts with a total amount of more than 500 million VND and then appropriated the above amount. When she realized she was scammed, Ms. S went to the Criminal Police Department ( Quang Ninh Provincial Police) to report.

According to the Criminal Police Department, impersonating delivery staff to defraud and appropriate property is not a new trick, however, many people due to lack of vigilance have become victims of these subjects, in many cases they have been defrauded and appropriated a huge amount of money.

Ms. S reported to the Criminal Police Department (Quang Ninh Provincial Police). Photo: congan.quangninh.gov.vn — Ms. S reported to the Criminal Police Department (Quang Ninh Provincial Police). *Photo: congan.quangninh.gov.vn*

Also a fan of online shopping, Ms. Nguyen Thi Chung, Hong Hai Ward (Ha Long City) often buys goods through livestream programs and advertisements on social networks. However, her experience is not always smooth. “I once ordered a handbag through livestream, the advertising image was very beautiful, but when I received the goods, the color and material were completely different. When I complained, they not only did not exchange or return it but also ignored me, even blocked my account. Now every time I buy online, I hesitate more because I do not know the truth and often choose to buy items of moderate value,” Ms. Chung said.

Nowadays, selling and buying goods via livestream (tentatively translated: Live streaming) on social networking platforms is increasingly attracting a lot of attention from buyers. With the strength and outstanding development of e-commerce platforms and the need to quickly purchase items, livestream selling has actually become an extremely developed industry, and is an opportunity for many people who work in livestream selling to develop. Surfing on social networking platforms, consumers can easily encounter celebrities and influencers in many fields livestreaming to sell goods. Many live sessions have even reached a record of billions of dong.

However, this also comes with significant challenges. In recent days, information about celebrities livestreaming and falsely advertising products has caused a stir on social networking sites. Through livestream sales channels, it is clear that consumers make decisions to place orders and close deals with the belief that artists, celebrities, KOLs, KOCs (terms referring to people with great influence on social networks) will only cooperate with major brands with quality products, but the reality is not entirely like that. Many products are sold, but the celebrities themselves have never used or experienced the products, and do not even fully understand the information about the ingredients, origin, and uses of the products, but only advertise and introduce them according to pre-prepared scripts.

Be a smart consumer

A survey by McKinsey & Company shows that from 2023 to the end of January 2025, 70-80% of consumers will start experimenting with online shopping, many of whom will be using this form of shopping for the first time. Although online shopping has many conveniences such as saving time, abundant goods, competitive prices, etc., many consumers are still hesitant because this form also has limitations such as not being able to try it on directly, not being able to check the origin and quality of the product, and having to wait for delivery, etc. In fact, there have been many cases of "losing money and getting sick" when receiving fake, poor quality goods.

Therefore, when shopping online, consumers should be cautious with items that are cheaper than their real value. There may be promotions or discounts, but always remember to ask carefully about product information. Require the store to provide clear information about problems that arise and how to handle them when making a transaction, especially issues such as warranty, return, refund, etc. In addition, market researchers also recommend not transferring too much money before receiving the goods. After receiving the goods, buyers should save information such as order confirmation code, payment invoice, etc. in case of loss or confusion.

One thing to be very careful about when buying online is that buyers need to pay attention to the security of their personal information. If the seller asks for a pin code, bank OTP code or other personal information unrelated to the transaction, immediately stop the transaction and check. Because this could be a sign of fraud.

Representatives of provincial enterprises signed the commitment "Enterprises producing and providing services ensuring safety and quality for consumers" in 2025 at the Launching Ceremony in response to Vietnam Consumer Rights Day 2025.

In the process of information globalization, livestreaming and e-commerce have now become an indispensable part of social life. The theme of Vietnam Consumer Rights Day 2025 is "Transparent Information - Responsible Consumption" to raise awareness of protecting consumers from risks and sophisticated fraud. In particular, supporting the business activities of legitimate production and trading enterprises; at the same time ensuring the basic rights of consumers, especially the right to access information in a transparent and safe manner.

Therefore, along with the strengthening of strict management of online sales activities by the authorities, each consumer should first protect themselves when shopping online by proactively improving their understanding of network information security, network security, choosing safe shopping platforms and shipping units. When detecting signs of fraud, people need to stay calm, not continue to follow the requests of the subjects, and at the same time notify the nearest police agency for instructions on handling according to regulations.

Duy Khoa

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