With a few weeks into the festive season, the Police have come out to warn the public early enough against the increasing number of fraudsters who have started defrauding and conning people with cheap offers and deals.
According to the police spokesperson, Fred Enanga, this is mainly done through online businesses were many unknown individuals and companies tend to offer cheap things, ahead of the Christmas period.
While addressing journalists at the weekly press briefing at the police headquarters in Nagruru, Kampala, on Monday, November 28, Enanga said the police cybercrime unit has recorded an increase in complaints of people being defrauded by conmen.
“From our cybercrime unit, we are getting an increase in complaints of victims of cyber fraudsters and conmen. Most of them have been taken advantage of during the online shopping deals, and from other online cons, that lure them with the promise of cheap deals and stress-free purchases,” he noted.
Police highlighted some of the soft areas where Ugandans tend to easily fall victim, especially during the festive season.
Among them include; online shopping fraud which they say is very prominent, auctions fraud for houses and other items, holiday fraud for those who want to go for holidays, load and investment scams, ticketing fraud from those who want to go and watch concerts and other shows, money transfer from abroad and internally, mobile payments (someone calls and claims he is your landlord asking you to pay without even introducing him/herself), and donations to charity.
“People are coming up with a variety of requests for donations to charity during the festive period. We are also getting a lot of social media scammers and complaints are many from people who use social media. Even dating scams are common on various dating sites,” he added.
Enanga advises that all those going online shopping should first carry out sufficient due diligence to check the authenticity of the site or product and those you are buying from and how to pay for the purchases.
