AMMAN — The closure of several clothing stores, and the reluctance of some citizens
to go shopping, following the
COVID-19 pandemic, has significantly increased
demand for online shopping, market observers say.
اضافة اعلان
The newfound habit may be convenient, but it could
also be plagued by problems, first and foremost fraud, blamed by industry
participants on the authorities’ failure to exercise control and regulate
online shopping.
Asaad Qawasmi, representative of the clothing sector
at the Jordan Chamber of Commerce, told
Jordan News that “we have
received some complaints about scams from online shoppers.”
“Complaints are related to the non-conformity of the
goods received to the specifications and standards expected. Moreover, some have
been dealing with fake pages that list nonexistent addresses and numbers,” he
said.
Qawasmi said that “we called for controls that
determine the nature of these pages and ensure that they are credible and
legal.”
“This would protect consumers and merchants alike,”
he said, since “it is unfortunate that these traders would ruin the reputation
of other merchants who are credible.”
According to him, the Ministry of Industry, Trade
and Supply is interested in setting limits and controls to regulate the work of
these pages and prevent fraud and scams.
“Of course, there is unfair competition between
traditional and online merchants, and that is why it is important to have
control mechanisms that organize the shopping process at all ends,” he said.
Duaa Abdel Maqsoud, a woman who was scammed when she
wanted to buy a gift for her sister from a fake website, told
Jordan News that “one of the websites caught my attention due to its presentation of
distinctive products and merchandise at reasonable prices, but I was surprised
when the product arrived and did not look like in the picture at all.”
“I normally do not buy from unknown websites, but an
advertisement for this site appeared every time I opened a social networking
site, and attracted my attention,” she said, adding that “dissatisfied with the
quality” she tried to contact the people on the number shown on the site, “but
all my attempts were unsuccessful”.
“Weeks later, I tried to open the site again, but I
was not able to do so. I realized that it was there to defraud shoppers,” she
said.
Mohammad Obeidat, head of the
National Society for Consumer Protection, said that complaints submitted by citizens about purchases
through social networking sites are “increasing on a daily basis, in the
absence of official supervisory authorities of these sites that deceive and
mislead citizens and make them incur financial losses”.
He stressed that “authorities should expedite the
enactment of laws and legislation regulating the electronic purchase process,”
and called on authorities to “conduct awareness, guidance and educational
campaigns and urge citizens not to deal with these pages, unless all the
information related to them, such as license, address and personal information,
is provided”.
He also called on the security authorities to follow
up on all websites and pages that engage in these violating activities and to
refer those who manage them to the judiciary.
“Anyone who falls victim to these websites must inform the
official authorities of their information, the names of the pages, their
addresses, and the phone numbers of those responsible for them; in order to
inflict the most severe penalties against them,” he noted.
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