Gcash offers shopping protection amid report on online scam surge
CHRISTMAS is over but the holiday spirit continues with various sales promos available both online and offline. As more local consumers still prefer to purchase on the web to avoid traffic jams and mall queues, swindlers on the internet are also on the rise.
In fact, Transunion’s study on global trends in digital scam shows that shipping fraud was among the top significant threats, growing by 780.5 percent from 2020 to 2021. They committed such illicit activity by using a fake website or a bogus item on a legitimate retailer’s portal to pose as trusted online sellers, as well as controlling product pages and posting a big number of sham positive reviews and testimonials to make the products look real and of high quality.
In the Philippines, Transunion, a global information and insights company, said suspected digital holiday shopping fraud in the Philippines was 70 percent higher than the same period in 2021, and 2 percent higher than during the rest of 2022.
“Fraudulent activity tends to be particularly prevalent in online retail during the holiday shopping season,” Pia Arellano, president and CEO of Transunion Philippines, was quoted in a previous Businessmirror report.
With this in mind, Gcash is pitching its Online Shopping Protect so virtual buyers can now have a peace of mind making a purchase sans having to double- or triple-check reviews that turn out to be unreliable.
In partnership with global insurance firm Chubb, the e-wallet app provider combats online fraud with this new offering by seamlessly incorporating protection coverage into online transactions done through ecommerce platforms such as Shopee, Zalora, and Tiktok.
For only P34 per month, users can have eligible purchases protected from shipping errors up to 60 days upon receipt of products. Items paid with Gcash and covered by Online Shopping Protect are also shielded from other online buying mishaps if they end up being incomplete, wrong, defective, undelivered, fake, accidentally damaged, or stolen.
Those wishing to avail of this purchase insurance may just select Gcash as payment method in the e-commerce platform. Leave the Online Shopping Protect checkbox ticked when redirected to the Gcash payment portal. Provide consent to protect purchases by tapping the “Yes, Protect My Shopping” button, and complete the transaction.
While Online Shopping Protect covers most of purchases, this excludes the following: items below P250; electronic items and equipment over P10,000; jewelry, precious metals/gemstones, and watches worth more than P5,000; counterfeit or fake goods; concert tickets; monthly-paid subscriptions; perishable goods or products, such as perfume, food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals; animals, livestock, or living plants; cash, cheques, real estate, stocks, shares, bonds, currencies, or digital assets; vehicles and equipment and/or parts necessary for their operation; firearms, art, antiques, and collectible items; items confiscated or declared illegal by any government, customs, or public body.
Gcash app is downloadable on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or Huawei App Gallery. Register, get verified and #Alwaysprotektodo when shopping online by getting Online Shopping Protect.