Ojendras , Sherie Mae C. REFLECT Buyer Beware: Consumer.

Fraud,Scams and Unfair Sales Practice

What is a scam? A scam is a dishonest scheme that aims to get money, or something else of
value, from its victims. Individuals or consumers and businesses are tha targets of scammers. All
sizes and types of businesses can be vulnerable to scams. Scams is known for its persuasion
techniques wherein they deceive the consumers or businesses to hand over their money.
Scammers pretend to be someone reliable to gain the trust of the victim. For example in buying
goods online, scammers make it appear to you that they are offering a limited edition product ,
either in volume or in time, so as to make a quick decision before the victim has had time to
reflect on it. They don't make it appear their true intention , they conceal it with lies. There are
several warning signs to consider that may be an indication of scams.(1) Verbal agreement or
over the telephone sales, you must insist on seeing written details and a copy of the terms and
conditions before placing an order. (2) Emails that appear like a simple letter but if you inspect
it carefully it might be an loan contracts so don't provide personal informations easily. (3) When
their process is different to the usual, for example with payment methods scammers prefer
hard to trace methods.(4) When they frequently ask for money without unreasonable cause.
None of these signs are totally reliable, as scammers make efforts to avoid them. One well-
known scam that involves consumer is the online auction purchase scam wherein consumer
with the winning bid in an online auction is instructed that the seller will only accept money
transfer as a form of payment. The seller may also instruct the consumer to use a fictitious
name for the transfer, to ‘protect themselves’ until the goods are received – but they
never arrive.In line with scams some examples of unfair trade methods are: the false
representation of a good or service; false free gift or prize offers; non-compliance with
manufacturing standards; false advertising; or deceptive pricing.It will also include unfair sales
strategies, such as “bait and switch,” a practice of advertising one item at a low price with
the intent of actually selling other items. Unfair ads can be categorized as those with incorrect
pricing, fake endorsements, false statements, or exaggerated performance descriptions.
Deceptive guarantees are also considered a form of unfair advertising. All the scams, frauds and
misrepresentatiom the final victim are the consumers. They suffer the most these cases may
build a negative motivation and perception in mind and could mislead their decision making
 Ojendras , Sherie Mae C. REFLECT Buyer Beware: Consumer.
Fraud,Scams and Unfair Sales Practice
process. Consumers are needed to be protected and I admire that here in our country the
government take into consideration the welfare of consumers. Consumers are protected under
the Consumer Act of the Philippines RA. 7394 which is a law designed to prevent business that
engaged in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors and
provide additional protection for the weak and those unable to take care of themselves. This
law is for all of us. Stated in this law is the rights of the consumers the eight consumer rights
are: (1) right to basic need (2) right to safety (3) right to information (4) Right to choice(5) Right
to representation (6) Right to redress (8)Right to consumer education and (8) Right to a healthy
enviroment. These rights provides a way for consimers to fight back against abusive sale
practice.These laws are designed to hold sellers of goods and services accountable when they
seek to profit by taking advantage of a consumer's lack of information or bargaining power. This
law is implemented by several government agencies , Department of Health , Department of
Agriculture ( products related to agriculture) and lastly Department of Trade and Industry. DTI is
the one that processess complaints regarding unfair sales practices, consumer can directly
submit or talk to them about their complaints and experiences .DTI also provide precautions for
more safety in shopping, selling and purchasing. The new trend with DTI is the radio program
"KONSYUMER ATBP" wherein informative discussions about consumers is being tackled. The
awareness of consumer rights and duties is important in alll areas and the responsibility of this
rest with all of us and more particularly with the government agencies, the state government
has to play a vital role for promoting welfare of consumers and protection of their rights. If you
will not know your rights as a consumer then you will be unknown and denied to many rights
provided to you. And we,as consumers, we should not wait until we became the victim of scams
and frauds we should learn how to be a wise buyer and seller.

References

https://www.dti.gov.ph/consumers/18-main-content/static#scams

https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/suequirante/consumer-rights-pertinent-philippine-laws
 Ojendras , Sherie Mae C. REFLECT Buyer Beware: Consumer.
Fraud,Scams and Unfair Sales Practice
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/frenz_jr/consumer-act-of-the-philippines-ra-7394

https://www.businesscompanion.info/en/quick-guides/miscellaneous/business-scams#Whatisascam

https://www.winston.com/en/legal-glossary/unfair-trade-practices.html