Black November beckons with unbeatable deals and epic fraud

Kenyans cannot wait for shopping deals next month, with scores having saved up for gripping deals on Black Friday used to push out inventory.

But in these deals that are too good to be true also lurk cons, especially given the rise of online purchases.

The rise of fraud in the online space has been on the rise of late affecting almost half the entire population according to the Central Bank FinAcess survey which shows 26.6 percent of Kenyans, reported that they have experienced fraud in the process of using mobile money, 9.9 percent while using mobile bank account and 4.7 percent on digital app loans.

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I would say if you are not yet scammed then you are lucky, best prepare for one because it may just be a matter of time.

I used to believe that scam tactics would never work on me. Turned out I was wrong until I got scammed myself and I never saw it coming.

From dukas to China

The growth of e-commerce has taken everyone including me by storm, from going to a physical shop, bargaining, and buying to sitting somewhere and making orders at your convenience and getting them delivered to your doorstep.  

All of a sudden getting things from Nairobi, China, the US, and Europe suddenly became a possibility and limits to free commerce were only in your ability to afford it.

I remember saving up money during my final year of high school just to buy a gaming console that I had admired for decades.

I was already aware of a deals November and the crazy offers ecommerce website would give to buyers on ‘’Black Fridays’’. When I placed my order Lo and behold, the price of the console was way lower than the one published in every website.

Giddy with excitement

It was my first time ordering a product via the internet I did not suspect anything at all. Pay on delivery was my option and I paid for my product that was being shipped from overseas and took 32 days to reach me.

 I cannot remember in my life when I was so excited to get something until I unwrapped the package.

It started to feel kind of fishy due to the weight when I was handed the package, it felt so light, lighter than any console I had seen from among my friends. I was hoping it was the new version.

Then I yanked it open and to my surprise, they had packed for me a blocked brick game with Nintendo features. I could not believe my eyes, I checked the box again Paystation Vista console, what I wanted but in my hand this small brick game.

The idea is to make a substandard good that resembles the product of your choice and give it exactly all the copy writing marketing strategy accompanied by quality photos of the actual product, some go as far as adding motion videos of the original product just to get you convinced.

Fast forward, five years later when I was venturing into photography this promo of a better deal drone kept on appearing on any of my social media platforms and honestly I needed one for my projects, I found myself placing the order. The element of fear was there but I went ahead and took the risk. I was persuaded by the price tag which made me give them the benefit of doubt.

I received my order after 28 days. But this time round having some history with the online market I was not so optimistic I was just taking the risk. Although this time I got the version of what I ordered, but it was a plastic drone instead of Carbon fibre, not to mention the camera quality of the drone which was its purpose of purchase was just as terrible.

Buyer beware

This time round I had taken some precautions and read the product reviews hoping to catch out the fraudsters.

 But having gotten reaped off I doubt that product reviews can be sufficient, I highly doubt if the client feedback was always genuine or from the buyers themselves because the level at which the good was being praised and not a single complaint is not normal and the cut off the price which is scribed next to the product ‘’Was 50k now 10k’’ then the 50k is crossed.

These are just but a few tricks they use to persuade you into the deal. I took courage and texted the shop owner claiming to be coned by his people and his response was that he is just a dealer and gave out a peculiar phone number after weeks of pressurizing them and writing comments regarding their product.

They reached out to me pleading that I take down my comments that it is giving them a bad name in exchange of a better deal in future. Weeks later my honest feedback in the comment section was taken down and that just explained to me why the section is just full of positive comments.

Then the contact they gave me turned out to be a Chinese manufacturer from Asia and there was no conversation we were going to have in Mandarin. In the end I was forced to contend with my toy drone.

The saying ‘’Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice cant put the blame on you’’ was just a way to console myself yet I fell for this fraud the third time.

My girlfriend had advised me to buy a new phone from the shop, but I was being macho and by that time I thought I had come to understand the e-commerce market better, and thought I could impress her with the power of the internet. I told her that I am going to order from one of the famous online shops and I have found a better deal.

The product came quite in shape ‘’Oppo Reno’’ as expected only to realise that the interface was nothing familiar, all it could communicate with was the Chinese language and the battery life would hardy sustain the gadget. Of course it had a better deal cheaper than the other same products.

I got my lesson ; ‘When the deal is too good’ take a minute to rethink your decision which almost none of us do in the market context, what we think is that maybe we are lucky or the owner of the product just has good day.

I know that because I posted the gadget back online on another website that was selling second-hand goods and I got multiple buyers which I had to choose from, I sold it making some extra money from the initial price that I bought it.

There are so many stories told and the ones I have heard in regard to ecommerce scamming are quite a number. A cousin lost a tidy sum to an online con who pretended to sell clothes at a discount but would just collect the upfront pay and block off the buyer.

Recently my boss ordered a media equipment with optimism just to find out they got him too, packed similar products as the one requested but of a mediocre quality. A close friend of mine buying a television from a sellers whatsapp status just to be told days later that the number is out of service upon calling for verifications to track his shipment.