Online shopping is convenient but can be risky for consumers

It should come as no surprise online shopping has been growing in popularity.

Three years ago, it was estimated e-commerce accounted for about 10.4% of retail sales in the United States, and by last year, that number had increased to just over 14%. In 2019, online retail sales in the U.S. totaled just under $587 billion, second only to China's $1.9 trillion worth of online commerce.

Earlier this year, economists were predicting American consumers would be making about 22% of their retail purchases online by 2023.

But that was before the COVID-19 pandemic. In the second half of March, shortly after President Donald Trump declared a state of national emergency when the coronavirus outbreak was beginning to spread in the United States, e-commerce spending was up more than 40% compared to the same period in 2019.

Walmart's online sales have reportedly increased 74% during the pandemic and Best Buy has reported a 250% increase in online purchases among its customers.

Consumers are discovering they can buy everything from groceries to automobiles online from the safety and convenience of their computer keyboards, without wearing a face mask or maintaining "social distancing" while they shop.

But along with online shopping comes a new set of concerns related to online scams and e-commerce fraud.

According to the Better Business Bureau, online purchase scams were the third most prevalent type of consumer scam in 2019, accounting for 24.3% of all scams reported to the BBB's Scam Tracker consumer fraud reporting system. (The top two fraud schemes reported to BBB last year were employment scams, in which a person is hired for a nonexistent job and is required to supply personal information and "purchase equipment" for that job, and scams related to cryptocurrency in which investors are scammed into buying digital assets that don't exist.)

The most common products promised, but not delivered once payment was made, were in the categories of clothing/jewelry, home/furniture and medical/nutrition.

"Nationally, we've seen a lot of online scams during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Whitney Quick, regional director of the BBB office in Cape Girardeau. "There have been nearly 1,000 COVID reports filed nationally to Scam Tracker. At least 40% of those are online purchase scams, many by people who attempted to purchase medical grade face masks and never received them."

While the vast majority of online retailers are legitimate, there are some steps internet shoppers should always use when considering an online purchase. Among them:

• Verify the seller's identity and check the store's contact information to be sure it really exists. Look for the name of the company, the address, an email address, a contact form and a telephone number on the store's website.
• Check reviews to be sure previous sales were conducted without problems.
• Don't give out too much information. The only information that should be required to make an online purchase should be your credit card details, address and phone number. Be suspicious if a site asks for anything else, such as your Social Security number or checking account information.
• Check your bank statements regularly for any fraudulent charges that may have originated with an online purchase.

More tips can be found on the Better Business Bureau's website or by Googling "tips to avoid online purchase scams."

Porch pirates

Merchandise purchased online is often delivered to homes and left outside next to the purchaser's front door. Packages left on front porches can be a tempting target for "porch pirates."

"We experience package thefts in Cape on a fairly regular basis," according to Sgt. Joey Hann of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, who says the department typically handles two to three package theft reports every month.

"We tend to take more reports during the holiday season, specifically during the month of December," he said.

With an increase in online sales, there is also a potential for more package thefts as well.

While there is no specific area of Cape Girardeau that has experienced more package thefts than others, Hann said "thieves do seem to target open and sprawling neighborhoods and areas where they can drive around and scope out targets without raising alarm."

Hann said consumers who make online purchases should consider taking one or more of the following precautions to avoid package thefts:

• Most delivery services offer a preferred delivery time option. If they do, select a time frame when you expect to be home. If this is problematic, consider having packages shipped to your place of employment or to a relative.
• Consider having packages delivered to a distribution center, especially if the merchandise is expensive.
• Most package thefts happen because thieves see parcels in plain sight from the street. Consider purchasing a flower box, storage bench or similar container with a storage compartment that can be used to hide packages. Leave instructions for delivery services to "place the item in the blue planter on the porch" or "inside the brown bench box."
• Thieves are usually aware of security cameras, but instead of concealing them, make one of your cameras very visible to anyone from the street as a deterrence method.

"Thieves primarily search for the easiest targets with the fewest chances of exposure and a highly visible camera will make most thieves decide the risk isn't worth the reward," Hann said.

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