According to the Technology Crime Suppression Division, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), there were over 50,000 cases of online shopping fraud from January to March, including delivery of products that did not match their advertisement and non-delivery even though payment had been made. The total damage exceeded 600 million baht.
Two years ago, an online shopping scam destroyed the life of a high school student in Nakhon Si Thammarat who paid 18,500 baht for an iPhone 13 through a social media platform. However, after she discovered she had been scammed, she was devastated and took her own life.
Since online shopping scams can lead to severe consequences, the Thailand Consumer Council (TCC) recently organised a forum on Facebook titled "Being Scammed Online Isn't Just Bad Luck. It Is Because of Legal Loopholes" to discuss online scams and provide knowledge to the public so that people can protect themselves.
In the forum, the moderator, Atirut Kittipatana, showed a power strip as a product that is often involved in scams. He said a power strip that meets Thai national safety standards must have a certified logo of the Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI). Although the power strip in his hand had a TISI certification logo, it felt unusually light and when he unscrewed it, he found no internal electrical circuitry.
Atirut admitted that he had experienced scams when buying products online. When consumers like Atirut buy products from fraudulent online stores, they do not know how to seek compensation because these stores operate without verifiable identities and usually block victims after they receive payment.
Asst Prof Weerapun Rungseevijitprapa, a member of the TCC's subcommittee on General Goods and Services, stated that the organisation receives approximately 200 to 300 complaints per day from consumers regarding online shopping scams. Although monetary losses are not high, the number of victims is quite high.
"When you intend to purchase an item, you should seek information about its average price. For example, a power strip costs around 400 to 500 baht in department stores. However, fraudulent online stores may offer them for less than 200 baht. You should be cautious; if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. You should read reviews and be cautious of those that seem overly positive," Asst Prof Weerapun warned.
"Consumers should purchase products from platforms with an escrow payment system. When a buyer purchases a product, the platform holds the payment. If the consumer does not receive products they ordered or the products are not as advertised or there is some other problem, they can claim a refund. I believe there are many cases where consumers did not purchase products on these platforms and were unable to pursue legal action."
Pol Col Neti Wongkularb, deputy commander of the Technology Crime Suppression Division, CIB, revealed that last year, there were over 200,000 cases of online shopping fraud which caused damages worth 2 billion baht.
Pol Col Neti explained that online scammers come in two forms. The first form involves stores on platforms with an escrow system. In this case, when consumers receive products which do not match the description, the escrow system allows consumers to claim a refund. The second form is a total scam where fraudulent pages are created on social media platforms and involve mule accounts. This makes it difficult to track the payments and scammers.
As the director of the Platform Business Supervision and Inspection Department, Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), Supachitra Laohawattanapinyo explained that the ETDA acts as the regulatory body for digital businesses under the Royal Decree on the Operation of Digital Platform Service Business Act B.E. 2565 (2022).
The ETDA works closely with two state agencies: TISI and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Products requiring licences and/or certifications from these two agencies include those subject to mandatory TISI standards, cosmetics, herbal products and medical devices.
If a platform is one of the 21 e-commerce platforms designated by the ETDA, the platform must verify the identity of its sellers. If the TISI, FDA and police require seller identification, the platform must be able to provide the necessary information.
Supachitra emphasised that products on these 21 platforms must have valid licences, and the platforms are mandated to require sellers to display a QR code that allows consumers to verify the authenticity of their licence because there are many fraudulent or stolen licences.
In addition, the platform is mandated to maintain a functioning notice and takedown system. This means that when consumers encounter a problematic and/or unsafe product and report it to the platform, it must remove that product so that other users will not encounter the same issue.
Since platform sellers are divided into corporate and individual accounts, corporates must register with the Department of Business Development (DBD). Prachaya Pairojkulmanee, the director of the E-Commerce Division (DBD), revealed that for individual sellers, this is voluntary.
"The DBD encourages individual sellers to register as DBD Registered which will help build consumer confidence in purchasing products. However, since registration is voluntary, only about 100,000 out of 2 million sellers have registered. Many sellers are hesitant to register because they worry that registration might involve tax audits. The DBD is actually not involved in any tax matters," explained Prachaya.
To improve the efficiency of the platform, Supachitra explained that the ETDA encourages e-commerce platforms to adopt self-regulation.
Verifying sellers is self-regulation, but platforms could expand their measures beyond ETDA's current requirement that products meet TISI and FDA standards. Additionally, Supachitra stated that the ETDA can support platforms in persuading individual sellers to register as DBD Registered as it helps verify identities.
Moreover, the ETDA has introduced a draft notification from the Electronic Transactions Commission to define the duties of social media platforms.
"For example, if there is an advertisement, platforms must have a process for verifying advertisers' identities. The ETDA is initially focusing on advertisers because advertisement on social media can specifically target groups and/or large audiences depending on the amount of money they spend on advertising," explained Supachitra.
"Since platforms receive payment, they must know who the advertisers are. If there are scams on their platforms, they must be held responsible for the damage incurred. This measure has already undergone public hearing and will be officially enacted in the future."
Pol Col Neti pointed out that social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter) are common channels of scammers.
"These platforms should be subject to e-commerce regulations. If they claim that they are not e-commerce platforms, they should prohibit selling products. If transactions occur through these social media platforms, they must be held accountable. They cannot simply claim to be just social media platforms since they benefit from these activities," said Pol Col Neti.
"In the meantime, people should not purchase products through social platforms. If they really want to purchase goods, to be safe, they should choose cash on delivery."
