THURSDAY-6TH DECEMBER 2007-HOLD SCAM AWARENESS CAMPAIGN, SAYS CASH

Hold scam awareness campaign, says CASH
KOTA KINABALU: The relevant Government departments and agencies should organise a scam awareness campaign from time to time to raise public awareness, especially in the rural areas and small towns. “A scam is where the public are duped out of their cash in return for something or products that had been promised but in return nothing was honoured or delivered,” said Consumer Association for Sabah and Labuan (CASH) deputy president Nordin Thani yesterday. He reckoned that scam awareness campaign could give consumers the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to recognize, report and help stamp out mass-marketed scams. According to him, each day people open their mails, receive telephone calls, turn on their computers or switch on their mobile phones and receive unexpected SMS to find that they have unexpectedly won an exciting prize in a prize draw, lottery or other form of promotion. Nordin said that while some of these approaches are legitimate, others were a dishonest attempt to trap the public into parting with their money. “Many common scams take the form of prize draws or cash prizes designed to trick those who are not aware. “These scams are usually operated from outside the country, although they may use an unknown or non existing office address and a bank account here for the public to bank in money (needed to claim the prizes as part of their terms and conditions) before anyone could claim their prizes. The syndicate members are locals, not foreigners as claimed by many victims,” he said. Nordin said the recent announcement by the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs to ban scratch and win contests was in fact a very good news to consumers. He said not only such companies had been deceiving consumers in buying sub-standard goods in the past but they have also misled them by paying the price twice as much (over priced), especially those operating in the rural areas. In fact, he noted that the ban had been anticipated earlier by those irresponsible companies. These companies had switched their marketing tactics and strategy before the announcement was even made by switching from scratch and win to promotional leaflets distributed to the public informing and offering them goods at a very discounted price and value for money. These irresponsible and unscrupulous traders were seen operating in front of superstores, supermarkets and at open markets, said Nordln. He said they would approach potential customers by telling and showing them their so-called promotional products (by giving them the colourful leaflets) offered at discounted prices, among others. “Once the customers are convinced, they will then bring them to a specific location or showrooms to show what they have got to offer. But what actually on offer are mostly sub-standard, overpriced and misleading products not as described, shown or informed earlier in the leaflets. “Almost all of the products on offer do not correspond with the description applied to them. Selected customers are even allowed to take home the promotional products on credit without even have the opportunity to read the agreement signed. Apart from the interest, the customers also need to pay processing and administration fees,” he revealed. In this regard, Nordin advised the public to be cautious and avoid such promotions if they are unsure of, especially when responding to bogus promotions as their names, addresses telephone numbers are likely to be placed on other lists for similar scams. “The people should never reveal their credit card or bank account details unless they are absolutely sure who they are dealing with,” he cautioned.