CCPC acts to protect online shoppers

Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

By LINDA SOKO TEMBO

THE Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) says it has put measures in place to protect people shopping online.

CCPC executive director Chilufya Sampa said the commission had decided to come up with the measures after receiving numerous complaints from consumers swindled through online shopping.

Mr Sampa said CCPC wanted to ensure that it promoted and safeguarded online buying of products by curbing online fraud.

He said that was why CCPC had registered the country as a member of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) as this would allow it to work with other authorities in the world to protect consumers.

In an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Sampa explained that it was easy to deal with cybercrime if one was buying products online within Zambia, and that if the crime was outside the country, they had to engage other consumer protection bodies.

“We use the other authorities to network and collaborate because if such a person can swindle a Zambian consumer, it means they can do that to any other consumer and that country can take it up and do the investigation.

“Secondly we have also entered in a memorandum of understanding with some specific countries such as Malawi, the SADC and COMESA countries. 

“We have signed some level of agreements and we are now trying to sign something with South Africa’s national consumer authority as well,” Mr Sampa said.

He said these were some of the measures the commission had put in place to protect customers engaged in e-commerce.

Mr Sampa explained there was need for the commission to work on promoting safe internet buying of products using PayPal.

PayPal is an online payment mechanism that guarantees a consumer’s money back if the products were not delivered. 

“PayPal can actually protect you if your product is not delivered to you that is something that we are trying to put across to the consumers to take advantage of it,” Mr Sampa said.

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