Be Vigilant When Shopping Online – CAC

The Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) is advising consumers to be vigilant when shopping online.

“As you know, we have criminal actors currently on the Internet trying to extract your money and we want to ensure that our consumers are protected or they practise safe Internet usage,” said Information Technology Manager CAC, Andrew Evelyn, during a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’.

He said that using familiar websites is the number-one tip for shopping online.

“If you’ve used a website in the past and you’ve received the item, try and stick to it – use it again,” said Mr. Evelyn.

Mr. Evelyn noted that there are unscrupulous online vendors who do not necessarily take the consumer’s interest into consideration, but instead are highly profit driven.

He further informed that misleading social media advertisements are a major shopping scam and as such, consumers should carefully check any advertisement that they come across.

“You need to check the ad; you need to check the website that it carries you to, to see if it is a legitimate website,” said Mr. Evelyn, adding that consumers can use the Better Business Bureau website to check if they have any report on a particular website and be alerted not to use it.

He further emphasised that it is important to ensure that there is contact information on the website that you are desirous of using to make a purchase, “so you can actually call their number and do your checks”.

Mr. Evelyn also urged consumers to be careful of “lookalike websites” when browsing the Internet, noting that it is a tactic used to scam consumers who shop online.

“Check the URL to ensure that the name of the business is spelt correctly because oftentimes they use a different spelling,” he added.

The CAC is an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce. Its role is to enforce the Consumer Protection Act and facilitate ethical behaviour in the marketplace between vendors and consumers.