There's only about a month left until Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year). Lunar New Year , a bustling atmosphere of buying and selling goods. serving during Tet It was bustling and lively. Along with traditional shopping methods at markets, stores, and supermarkets, online shopping is on the rise. This has been helping customers shop more easily, conveniently, and quickly. However, many people are also taking advantage of this time to commit fraud and steal property, so people need to be extremely vigilant.
Shop economically and practically.
Taking advantage of her lunch break at work, Ms. Ho Thi Thu Hang, a bank employee in Ha Long City, browses e-commerce websites to order Tet (Lunar New Year) goods online instead of going to stores to save time and get better prices. Ms. Hang shared: "As an auditor for a company, the end-of-year workload is overwhelming. I have to work overtime, clean the house, prepare for the family, and handle internal and external affairs for Tet... Therefore, my time is very limited. Since learning how to shop online, I take advantage of choosing to buy goods on e-commerce platforms instead of going to stores."
According to Ms. Hang, the advantages of online shopping include access to a wide variety of products in a short time, the ability to compare prices immediately, and the frequent use of discount vouchers and promotions. Buyers also don't have to queue to pay in person, as they can use cashless online payments, saving time.
In addition, many customers also choose to follow live streams on social media and e-commerce platforms to receive advice or find deep discounts. According to Mr. Tran Anh Khoa (Hong Hai Ward, Ha Long City), most of the goods he prepared for Tet this year were purchased from watching live streams and looking for online discounts. Buying goods via live streams allowed him to interact with sellers, ask detailed questions about materials and items, and especially receive very deep discounts.
Similar to Ms. Hang and Mr. Khoa, during the end-of-year shopping season, most young people and office workers choose to shop online on e-commerce platforms. The trend for Tet (Lunar New Year) shopping mainly focuses on beauty products, fashion , electronics, home furnishings, and food. Being tech-savvy young people, this customer base is quite selective, buying only truly necessary items and prioritizing product quality over price.
Currently, online sales trends have been actively adopted and widely used by businesses. To attract consumers during the Lunar New Year, online sellers are advised to increase their advertising budgets by 10-30% compared to normal days. The ideal time to run ads is 3-6 weeks before Tet, using both in-platform (search ads) and out-platform (social media ads) advertising.
Besides selling on e-commerce platforms, businesses are also proactively creating chat groups on Zalo to promote products and interact with customers. Ms. Nguyen Thuy Ha, Director of Viet Hung Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Cooperative (Ha Long City), shared: "Besides preparing goods for direct sale at the store, I constantly update Tet holiday items in the Zalo group. These are all loyal customers who have bought from me many times, and are confident about the origin and quality, so as long as they message me what they need, the store will deliver it immediately. Delivery time is within the day, sometimes only 1-2 hours, and customers can receive their orders at any time they want."
According to Ms. Ha, during Tet (Lunar New Year), customers prioritize essential goods and local agricultural products. Therefore, she focuses on importing agricultural products from farmers in Bang Ca, Dan Chu, Dong Lam, Dong Son, and Ky Thuong communes (Ha Long province) such as chicken, upland sticky rice, braised pork, taro, and various vegetables. In addition, she also imports many items to meet customer demand during Tet, such as bamboo shoots, Binh Lieu vermicelli, Van Don fish sauce, and Quy Hoa Hai Ha golden flower tea. The volume of goods sold during this period increases fivefold compared to normal days.
Warning about online shopping scams.
Although online shopping offers many conveniences, customers are often disappointed when they receive online orders because the seller delivers the wrong color or style. size, Even when receiving the wrong item, customers often don't get a response or are blocked from contacting the shop. Or, if an exchange is possible, the refund process can be quite time-consuming. Furthermore, when buying online, customers are easily exploited by unscrupulous individuals who mix in low-quality goods to make a profit.
In particular, taking advantage of the year-end shopping season, scammers are using the tactic of impersonating delivery drivers (shippers) to trick people into transferring money in order to steal their assets. According to information from the Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department (Provincial Police), once they have obtained the information, the scammers will impersonate shippers and call to deliver goods during business hours or when the customer is not home. If the recipient says they cannot receive the goods, the scammers will urge the victim to receive the goods through an acquaintance or neighbor to ensure sales targets are met and request payment for the order.
After receiving the money, the scammers may continue to use various excuses such as: mistakenly sending the wrong payment account details to threaten to deduct money and ask the victim to click on a link they provide to cancel their membership; claiming an order was mistakenly delivered and then tricking the victim into clicking on a link to provide customer information to receive a refund... The scammers use the information provided by the victim to attack and gain control of the device and bank account, steal the victim's money, and then cut off all contact.
To proactively prevent this type of scam, the Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department of the Quang Ninh Provincial Police recommends that people increase their vigilance, not accept any orders they did not order, not transfer money or pay for orders without clear photos of the tracking number and recipient information, and absolutely not click on any links sent by strangers to avoid falling into scams. In addition, when detecting any unusual signs, immediately stop the transaction and report the incident to the nearest police station for timely handling.
Recently, the Information Security Department ( Ministry of Information and Communications ) also issued a warning about online shopping scams during the year-end period. Accordingly, taking advantage of the year-end holidays such as Christmas and New Year, along with numerous major year-end sales events, scammers have launched various schemes that have trapped many people. Specifically, exploiting the "sale hunting" mentality (hunting for discount codes and offers), malicious individuals will proactively contact victims through fake promotional emails and messages from familiar e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, and Tiki.
Furthermore, exploiting the user behavior analysis features of social media platforms, perpetrators create fake fan pages or websites that are identical to the official pages of major brands to reach victims through advertisements for products the victims are interested in, thereby luring victims into placing orders with high discounts in order to steal their assets.
Given the increasing trend of online fraud during the year-end period, the Information Security Department (Ministry of Information and Communications) advises people to be cautious when conducting transactions on social media or online. In addition, people should verify the identity of the seller, research the seller's credibility and product quality before purchasing, and avoid transferring deposits to prevent being defrauded. Maintain vigilance and proactively protect personal information, especially important information such as citizen identification cards and bank account information; do not be tempted by easily obtained assets or gifts of unknown origin, or profits obtained without effort.
In particular, people should not transfer money or provide OTP codes to unknown individuals; they need to be cautious and carefully verify information received from social media and anonymous calls; and they should not access any links or attachments received from unknown sources.
Regardless of the shopping method, every citizen needs to be proactive and discerning, choosing goods from reputable and reliable sources to ensure they meet the needs of themselves and their families.
Source
Comment (0)