'SNS Big Discounts'... Warning for Overseas Direct Purchase Scams Ahead of Black Friday

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] The Korea Consumer Agency has issued a consumer warning to prevent damages during the peak season of overseas direct purchases, such as Black Friday.

According to the Consumer Agency on the 23rd, over the past two years, consumer complaints related to online purchases of overseas direct goods received in November and December totaled 3,230 cases. The largest share of items was clothing and shoes (46.7%, 1,509 cases), followed by IT and home appliances (11.3%, 366 cases), and personal items (wallets, bags, sunglasses) (10.1%, 325 cases).

By type of consumer complaints, ‘delays and refusals of cancellations and refunds’ accounted for the most at 848 cases (26.3%), followed by ‘complaints about penalties, fees, and prices’ with 631 cases (19.5%), and delivery-related complaints such as ‘non-delivery and delayed delivery’ with 615 cases (19.0%).

Analyzing the types of consumer complaints by item, clothing, shoes, and personal items had the highest number of ‘delays and refusals of cancellations and refunds’ with 434 cases (28.8%) and 99 cases (30.5%) respectively, while IT and home appliances had the most complaints about ‘product defects, quality, and A/S’ with 126 cases (34.4%), showing differences by item category.

The Consumer Agency also stated that consumers should be cautious of suspicious scam sites advertising large discounts on social networking services (SNS). Whether a site is suspected of being a scam can be checked on the Korea Consumer Agency’s International Transaction Consumer Portal.

The Consumer Agency urged consumers to ▲ not rush to purchase after seeing advertisements of large discounts on SNS ▲ check for damage cases by searching reviews if the site does not disclose contactable business information ▲ carefully confirm the final purchase price including additional costs such as customs duties, VAT, and shipping agency fees ▲ and use credit cards that allow chargeback services whenever possible when making purchases.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.