PUTRAJAYA: For the first time, online cheating tops the list of complaints lodged by consumers to the government.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said this made up over 26% of the overall complaints received by the ministry last month, surpassing those related to prices of goods and services.
“On average, we receive about 2,500 complaints each month,“ he said after launching the government’s new online platform service MyPay, here, today.
“In July, for the first time ever, complaints on online cheating tops the list with about 26.2%, and that’s a fact. In fact, I go over each case that the ministry receives, and this trend (of online cheating) continues to increase.”
Saifuddin said among the complaints for online cheating include consumers receiving broken goods, not receiving their purchased items at all, or items being delivered extremely late.
He noted that among Asean countries, Malaysia also recorded the slowest delivery time for items purchased online with an average of 5.6 days, compared with the region’s average of only four days.
“And the number of complaints on online cheating continue to increase because the businesses lack ethics, and feel no guilt in cheating their customers,“ he said.
Saifuddin said consumers should also be more aware and alert when making online purchases to avoid being scammed by sellers who lack credibility.
“On the government’s part, we are increasing our advocacy for the public, and we continue to engage service providers to ensure such cases are minimised,“ he said.
To address the issue, Saifuddin said the government had also recently increased the quantum to be awarded by the Consumer Claims Tribunal to consumers for their losses from up to RM25,000 to RM50,000.
