Shopee safe as Amazon against online scams
E-commerce firm at top of Singapore rankings, with Carousell and Facebook in lower tiers
Singapore e-commerce giant Shopee has risen to the top of official rankings for its security measures to tackle e-commerce scams for the first time, while Carousell and Facebook Marketplace remain at the lower tiers in the ratings.
The Ministry of Home Affairs yesterday said Shopee had implemented all important safety features over the past year that were required for it to join three other platforms – Amazon, Lazada and Qoo10 – at the top rung of the Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams’ E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings.
Carousell and Facebook Marketplace, meanwhile, have remained in the bottom two tiers of the ratings since they were first launched in May 2022.
The latest update to the safety ratings come after Meta, which owns Facebook, was singled out for refusing to cooperate – and consistently pushing back against the ministry’s recommendations to combat scams – by Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling during a budget debate in parliament on February 29.
The ratings seek to provide consumers with information on the anti-scam measures implemented by e-commerce platforms operating in Singapore.
The overall rating assigned to each platform indicates the extent measures critical to guard against scams have been implemented, based on the authenticity of users, transaction safety, availability of loss remediation channels for consumers, and the effectiveness of anti-scam measures.
The ratings range from one to four ticks, with four the highest. The top rating is awarded to platforms that implement all critical anti-scam features, resulting in a low number of reported scams. In the latest review, the ministry said Shopee’s rating had improved from three to four ticks after it fully implemented user verification against government-issued documentation for all sellers.
“The number of reported e-commerce scams on their platform has reduced by 65 per cent, from 311 cases in 2022 to 109 cases in 2023,” the ministry said.
The other platforms awarded the four-tick rating – Amazon, Lazada and Qoo10 – have been in the top tier since the rating system was launched two years ago.
Carousell and Facebook Marketplace obtained two ticks and one tick, respectively.
The ministry said that based on the modus operandi of e-commerce scammers, user authentication and secure payment options were considered as critical safeguards.
“Consumers should look out for seller accounts that have their identities verified against government-issued documentation by the platforms. Scammers are more likely to use unverified accounts to list their products and services,” it said in a statement.
Last year, 9,783 e-commerce scam cases were reported, double the 4,762 cases in 2022, police said in February.