Loss of customers and trust due to information disclosure

Delivery staff for customers in Dong Thai commune. Photo: AN LAM

Although she did not place an order, Ms. Huynh Thi Lan, a resident of Rach Gia Ward, was surprised to receive a package with her name and exact address written on it. The package said “skirt,” but when opened, it turned out to be a cheap T-shirt. Her relatives saw that the amount was not large, so they paid 100,000 VND to the delivery person. “This is clearly a trick to take advantage of the customer’s subjectivity,” Ms. Lan said.

Not only buyers, but also sellers were affected. Ms. Tran Ngoc Hoa, who specializes in selling dried Ca Mau specialties on Mac Thien Tich Street, Kien Luong Commune, said: “In just the past 2 days, dozens of regular customers called me because they received a message about a 0 VND order from Tran Ngoc Hoa, only needing to pay a 30,000 VND fee to receive it. They did not place an order but they still delivered the correct name and address. A familiar customer called and asked “Why are you sending such strange goods?”, then I realized it was a fake. As for strangers, they thought I was a scammer, they lost a lot of reputation, got angry and left me.”

After being harassed many times, Ms. Hoa thought of a way to not write her real phone number on the app, but instead use a series of 10 zeros. “I handwrite the customer’s real number on the box. It’s a little harder but I avoid getting fake calls,” Ms. Hoa said.

Not only Ms. Hoa, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, an online seller in Rach Gia ward, also fell into a similar situation. “In the past few days, customers have texted me asking why I only deliver “zero-dong orders”, while I have never created any orders. Sometimes they call, text, or even deliver fake goods,” Ms. Trang said. The unusual point lies in the fact that the shipping data was leaked from the delivery service system, when the address and phone number of both the seller and the buyer are clearly visible. “Small retailers like us have no way to protect ourselves other than hiding our numbers and constantly changing our accounts,” Ms. Trang said.

From the perspective of a delivery person, Mr. Le Quoc Duy - an employee of a shipping unit in Rach Gia ward admitted: "We are suffering from several fake cases. Many customers have received fraudulent calls before, so when we deliver the real goods, they are suspicious and do not accept them. Each time, the seller loses the order, the delivery side also has the order returned, affecting the reputation of both." Mr. Duy said that many bad guys take advantage of the form of "0 VND orders" or "trial orders" to steal information. "They can call customers and ask them to pay a fee of 10,000 VND, but in fact, they are enticing them to provide OTP codes or card information. We advise customers to be careful and not to provide information without confirming the owner."

From the reality of being impersonated, many online sellers suggest that there should be a stricter information protection mechanism from the shipping unit and e-commerce platform. They believe that personal data is often leaked through intermediaries or from the shipping unit's staff, so businesses need to review and coordinate with authorities when incidents occur. Sellers also hope that delivery applications add features to hide sender and recipient information and encrypt bills of lading to avoid being copied.

“I think the shipping unit should step up propaganda so that customers can recognize the official prefix of each unit, and at the same time, make payments via the business's QR code instead of the postman's personal account,” Ms. Do Ngoc My Xuyen, an online seller in Rach Gia ward, suggested.

AN LAM

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/mat-khach-mat-niem-tin-vi-lo-thong-tin-a465929.html