Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Number of Cases of Resellers of Luxury Items Defrauding Buyers Over the Past Three Years

Question:

Mr Desmond Choo: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) in the past three years, how many cases of resellers of luxury items defrauding buyers have been reported; (b) what are the Ministry’s plans to educate the public; and (c) whether the Ministry has plans to regulate such businesses.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law:

1.   It will be difficult to define a clear list of luxury items. The Police do not specifically track the number of cases involving resellers of luxury items defrauding buyers.

2.   The Government's public education efforts on scams prevention is led by the Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams (IMCS). The IMCS works with the private sector to educate the public on scams, and the measures that they can take to protect themselves. For example, in view that e-commerce scams have been consistently among the top scam types, IMCS worked with e-commerce platforms to introduce the E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings (TSR), which educates consumers on what safety measures to look out for. These include measures to verify user authenticity and secured payment options. The TSR also assigns an overall safety rating to major e-commerce marketplaces in Singapore – namely, Amazon, Lazada, Qoo10, Shopee, Carousell and Facebook Marketplace – based on the anti-scam measures they have in place.

3.   Buyers need to verify the legitimacy of sellers, such as by checking the seller's track record and reviews, before making payment. If a deal appears too good to be true, it could possibly be a scam or a fraud.