E-shopping is now the default option for many Singaporeans, thanks to the convenience of having your purchases delivered to your doorstep.
However, one of the drawbacks is that you have to put your trust in a total stranger, hoping they’ll send over what you expected.
A man in Singapore who bought a mobile phone online, unfortunately, got just a straw.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
He suspects that he has fallen victim to a scam account that posed as a real store.
The alleged victim, known only as Mr Zhang, made the transaction at the popular e-commerce site Lazada, reported Shin Min Daily News.
Source: Lazada on Facebook
The 55-year-old self-employed man went to the portal to buy his wife a phone as her phone plan had recently expired.
Coincidentally, they were having a “10.10 sale”, so he picked out a Samsung phone that cost S$447 — S$180 cheaper than at a physical store.
When Mr Zhang’s package was delivered, it was small and flat and didn’t feel right.
Upon opening it, he found just a thick, black straw inside — kinda like those used to drink bubble tea.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
He requested the delivery man to take a photo of it and contacted the online platform.
Mr Zhang remembered that when he browsed the seller’s details, he’d noticed that they were a newcomer.
That also meant that they didn’t have any reviews from other buyers, which made him doubt their reliability.
But he saw that the seller was listed as a phone specialist store, and had attached that store’s details, so he thought they were having a clearance sale.
He even sought the opinion of a friend, who said there should be no problem.
However, the actual physical store told Shin Min that they don’t sell phones over Lazada.
A staff member said they’d received similar reports of items being sold online from their store.
They added that they were scams, but it was inconvenient to elaborate.
On Thursday (20 Oct), the store reportedly posted on Facebook that someone had been fraudulently making use of their store name, trade name and photos.
That person had gone on to conduct scams over various online shopping platforms.
They warned customers to be careful and not to fall for the scams.
Soon, Mr Zhang found five negative reviews on the seller’s account.
Source: Shin Min Daily News on Facebook
According to screenshots of the reviews, the buyers were in a similar predicament — they received straws instead of phones.
Source: Shin Min Daily News on Facebook
The profile has not sold anything on the platform since.
He guessed that the alleged scammer probably sent out his straws at the same time after consolidating all the orders, so no negative reviews appeared until it was too late for all of them.
Mr Zhang said that Lazada’s customer service told him that they’d deal with the matter and asked him to send the goods back for verification.
After not receiving a reply, though, he decided to make a police report.
The police confirmed to Shin Min that they had received a report over the matter.
Mr Zhang said that he’d had previous negative experiences while e-shopping.
While they usually involved mistakes like receiving the wrong colour of an item, this is the first time something so ridiculous has happened, he said.
Thus, he shared this unpleasant incident to warn others not to fall for scams.
He also added, bluntly, that because of this he’ll buy phones only from physical stores in future.
Hopefully, Mr Zhang and the other alleged victims can get some form of restitution.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News.
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