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28 March 2024

What To Do When: You are victim of fake online shopping deal in UAE

Published
By Mohammed Al Sadafy

What does a customer do when a product or service bought online fails to deliver on its promise and the consumer becomes a victim of online fraud?

Dr Hachim Al Nuaimi

Engineer Hassan Al Kathiri

Omar Bushehab
 
Answering these questions exclusively for Emirates 24|7 readers are Hachim Al Nuaimi, Director of Consumer Protection Department of the Ministry of Economy, Omar Bushehab, the Executive Director of Commercial Control and Consumer Protection at the Department of Economic Development in Dubai and Hassan Al-Kathiri, the consumption expert and founder of the website ‘The Arab Consumer’.
 
What are some of the most common types of online shopping frauds?

There have been instances where the online shopper has bought a laptop and the gadget has not worked at all.

Other examples that have soured online shoppers’ experiences involve some group buying websites that have at times placed exotic ads online but do not pass on the same benefits to those who accepted their word and bought (for example) a holiday deal and were left feeling cheated as the deal fell far short of what the ads had promised.
 
What does the UAE law say?

According to the experts, the UAE laws protect the rights of the consumers but on the condition that the deal is carried out through a UAE-based website or if a foreign company is involved, then the client that is involved in a deal has a local agent or a representative office in the UAE.

In case the client has signed a deal with a foreign company based outside the UAE and the company has no local representative, things could get complicated as it would be difficult for the customer to pursue this company legally.
 
What if the website is operating from outside the UAE?

In such a case, the victim or the buyer will be forced to take legal measures and prosecute the foreign company outside the UAE.

Omar Bushehab, the Executive Director of Commercial Control and Consumer Protection at the Department of Economic Development in Dubai says that if the consumer files a complaint against a website belonging to a company not licensed in the UAE and do not have a local agent, it would be difficult for the department to take action due to lack of jurisdiction.
 
What if the website is operating from inside the UAE?

Bushehab says that if a website or a licensed local company is found to be involved in unfair trade practices, the department would deal with the complaint seriously and summon a representative of the company to solve the issue. The guilty would be punished.

He also disclosed that in the event that the victim of unfair trade practices made a purchase through a foreign company which has an agent in the UAE, the same procedure would be adopted.
 
Which department should the victim approach in case of a fraud?

In case the victim bought the goods online from a UAE-based website, three government departments could be involved in the case.

The three bodies include the department of consumer protection under the Ministry of Economy, the concerned Economic Development Departments (Dubai or Abu Dhabi or other emirates depending on the location of the vendor), and the consumer protection associations inside the UAE.
 
What rights do the consumers enjoy under the UAE law?

Under the UAE Federal Law No. 24 of 2006, consumer protection department of the Ministry of Economy and Economic Development Department in the emirates are equipped to deal with unfair trade practices.

The law ensures that the consumer protection departments can receive complaints from consumers affected and also compel the seller to replace the defective goods. They can also force the vendors to not promote unfit or harmful commodities.

Vendors operating in the UAE are obliged to comply with the required specifications and the price of the product should match the standard specifications.

The UAE law gives consumers the right to file a complaint and receive compensation for personal and financial damages as well as the right to sue the company if cheated.
 
How does the UAE law punish those who deal in unfair trade practices?

If a company is found selling a defective commodity, it can be fined Dh5,000.

The punishment would include destroying the damaged products and closing the facility for a week and being referred to the court.
 
Why is the number of consumer complaints on the rise?

The statistics of the Department of Economic Development in Dubai indicated a growth in the number of complaints from consumers who have bought products through the internet to 15 complaints during the month of May.

The numbers also indicated that the department received 200 complaints during the first 5 months of 2012.
 
How do UAE departments solve such cases of fraud?

Dr. Hachim Al Nuaimi, Director of Consumer Protection Department of the Ministry of Economy emphasised that there is no difference in their approach in solving issues of fraud committed either by online traders or traditional market traders.

He added that electronic shopping is subjected to the Consumer Protection Act like normal shopping.

He pointed out that the ministry reviews the complaints from online shoppers and adopts the same mechanisms which are implemented in case of those cheated when they went shopping the traditional way. The department responds to such complaints within 24 hours.

Dr Nuaimi added that online shopping involves commodities bought through credit cards, and therefore it is easy to prove the purchase process compared to proving the purchase of a particular commodity through regular means from a particular dealer in the market.
 
Call to make the complaint procedure easier

Engineer Hassan Al-Kathiri, the consumption expert and founder of the website ‘The Arab Consumer’ stressed on the adequacy of domestic laws to protect the consumers.

However, he added, that many victims of consumer fraud are unwilling to file an official complaint because of the effort and the tedious procedures involved. It is especially true among consumers who are cheated while buying commodities that cost less than a thousand dirhams.
 
Consumers cautioned to buy from credible sites

Eng Al Kathiri cautioned the consumers to buy from credible sites, or the ones which has agents in the UAE.

He also mentioned that is consumers wish to purchase goods online from sites based outside the UAE, they should contact the commercial attaches at the embassies of the states to the UAE to reassure themselves of the credibility of those sites and companies.

(Home page image courtesy Shutterstock)

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