The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) warned buyers ahead of the holiday season that online shopping and fake delivery scams have been ranked the most prevalent kinds of fraud.

CICC Undersecretary Renato “Aboy” Paraiso said fraudsters often take advantage of e-commerce platforms because shoppers can be very easily convinced into purchasing items with big discounts, according to RH 14 Leth Narciso.

“When you shop, ‘yung mga kababayan natin, when you do online shopping, please only use the legitimate online shopping apps … Kasi they have a security feature from within, wherein they will not release the payment (until) such a time that you are okay with the goods that was received,” the CICC advised the public.

“And then you should also avoid to chat with the merchants inside those e-commerce shopping app who will promise to give you more discounts if you pay via GCash directly, rather than using the app,” it added.

Another rampant scam is fake delivery schemes. Before, scammers’ modus operandi would be to ask the buyer to input their address into a phishing website to gain their credentials. Now, they have begun targeting delivery couriers too.

“The scammers right now are maximizing ‘yung cash-on-delivery, so what happens now, let’s say it’s Lalamove, or Grab, ang ginagawa ngayon in terms of online shopping, ipapabayad muna, especially if it’s just below P1,000, papabayaran muna sa delivery driver ‘yung item. And then pag dineliver ‘yung item, kasi ‘di naman nila bubuksan ‘yun, either walang item or (hindi tamang product). So nabibiktima rito ‘yung mga delivery driver natin,” the agency explained, adding that some couriers themselves scam buyers.

Other kinds of scams listed were call scams, task/job scams, investment scams, love scams, loan scams, impersonation scams, travel scams, charity scams, middleman scams, and online gambling scams.