Malaysians in their 30s and below are the easiest to be duped online, said the National Consumer Complaints Centre.
Citing an affinity to trendy gadgets, the centre said such consumers were most susceptible to “best price” and limited edition offers.
“Unfortunately, they fail to scrutinise the background of the sellers prior to buying the products; the result – items never arrive or are fake products,” Legal and Policy Division senior manager Shabana Naseer Ahmad told a press conference on Tuesday.
Referring to the NCCC Annual Report 2016, she said there were 7,371 complaints last year pertaining to online transactions, involving losses amounting to RM5 million.
According to the report, the number of consumer complaints had also risen from 44,540 in 2015 to 48,563 in 2016.
The losses increased from RM233.76 million in 2015 to RM255.62 million in 2016.
