Communications Authority warns of growing e-commerce fraud

Communications Authority of Kenya Director General Francis Wangusi

NAIROBI, KENYA: Online fraudsters could be masquerading as e-commerce platforms, offering rock bottom prices for household goods as well as other goods and services to lure in unsuspecting Kenyans.

This is according to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), which has warned of a rise in the number of conmen that have set up online shops as fronts and using them to steal from Kenyans. The tell-tale signs of such suspect operators include lack of basics that businesses should have including a physical address and customer care helpline.

Other characteristics, according to CA, are such businesses impersonating websites and mobile applications for institutions such as banks, insurance and government agencies.

“The Authority’s attention is drawn to various websites and mobile applications that purport to be selling goods and services online. The online shopping criminals entice unsuspecting buyers through deals via email, SMS, social media pages or telephone. They also request for a registration fee for the goods or service,” said Francis Wangusi director general CA in a statement yesterday.

“Verify the authenticity of online trading platforms… desist sending money to mobile numbers belonging to individuals posing as representatives of such online stores.”

There has been an increase in the number of e-commerce platforms in Kenya as the use of ICT deepens.

The rise in tech perpetuated crime is not limited to e-commerce but across different sectors. In the recent past, many Kenyans have lost huge amounts of money in the SIM swapping fraud, whereby criminals, sometimes guised as staff of mobile operators get personal information from subscribers that they would then use to block them from their accounts while they drained money from them.