Months ago, I was added by an FB account which purported to sell Apple products. The Filipina owner claimed to be living in Hongkong. Since I needed a supplier of Apple products for a transaction, I contacted the owner through Facebook messages. We exchanged private messages (PMs). I was growing tired of waiting for her FB messages, I told her to send me a text message instead so that we can just communicate using mobile phones. She texted me using her 'roaming number'. So I inquired about the procedure for payment, warranty of products, shipping fee, and other details that a common customer would ask for. The payment procedure was that I should wire the money to an account and then either she or the main supplier will ship the units. She seemed nice because she would always end her message with "God bless..." I was resolved that she can be trusted but I knew I had to use some security measures and suggested that we should execute a billing statement or order form signed by both parties for the purpose of our transactions.
Considering however, that the prices of the products I would be purchasing were relatively high, I decided to do some research. I googled her name to no avail. (By the way, that's the first thing you should do, google the name of the person you are searching for.) There were no matches for the name. The albums in the account were limited only to products so there was also no reference as to who were her friends. There was, however one album on some trips to Asia, another for profile pictures and "successful transactions..." Using my incognito account I sent a message to a certain person to whom a product was sold but also to no avail. He did not reply.
I did the exercise for more than two hours. I did not want to stop until I found out something that would either make me trust or distrust her. So, again I looked into FB accounts of people who liked her photos or commented on them. There were, by the way, only a few. I found out that I cannot even see her friends list. I became really suspicious. So what I did was to look again at photos of her successful transactions exhibiting delivery receipts to her clients. I downloaded, zoomed them (like an investigator). Some of the names of the clients were readable. At desperate attempts (of proving that I am a good researcher) I googled the names of the clients appearing on the delivery forms and viola!
Three of the images matched the uploaded photos in her account. (These were the only ones I really googled and I still do not know for others.) The pictures were merely downloaded and uploaded from another website. Tsk, tsk. This is not good because for one, the photos were not hers and two, the clients were not her true clients and three, the purchases were also not true. (By the way, by clicking the camera icon on your google, you can upload a photo and see if it matches with images on the web)
So, for anyone doing online transactions especially abroad, make sure that you do a background check of the other party you are transacting with. Also, keep in mind the following:
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| Photo taken from: http://jewel-staite.net/tag/online-shopping |
2. Never give information unless you know that it is secured to divulge them. (Credit card numbers, and other financial information)
3. If you are a businessperson, use measures which will reveal the identification of the other party (Passport no., contact details, full name, etc and make him or her sign even electronically)
4. If possible, pay using a credit system wherein the amount of payment is not deducted unless product is shipped. (Paypal, etc)
5. If possible, avoid dealing abroad. Deal locally to make sure that the seller and the products are really authentic. Imagine, you will be sending money to someone you do not know and you do not have any assurance that the product you bought will be delivered.
6. Finally, do some research.
I plan to send another FB message to her with the links of the photos and make her explain why she uploaded photos which were not hers on a very important album which can be a determining factor of whether clients should trust her shop. But for all I know she might have committed an honest mistake of just getting photos from the web and uploading them in her account (which is highly improbable).
Nevertheless, for all of you shopping online, just take extra measures to keep your online transactions safe and secured. Merry Christmas!
