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Shopee joins Amazon, Lazada to earn top marks in anti-scam rating, Facebook Marketplace remains lowest ranked
Shopee, Amazon, Lazada and Qoo10 earned the highest four ticks in the latest E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings (TSR).
SINGAPORE — E-commerce platform Shopee has joined Amazon, Lazada and Qoo10 in earning the highest rating of four ticks in the latest E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings (TSR) by the Inter-Ministry Committee on Scams (IMCS), while Facebook Marketplace remained in the lowest rank.
Launched in May 2022, the ratings assigned to major e-commerce marketplaces are updated annually based on the latest anti-scam features they have in place to secure e-commerce transactions.
The TSR covers e-commerce marketplaces, such as Shopee, Amazon and Lazada, that facilitate online transactions from multiple sellers to multiple buyers with a significant local reach or a significant number of e-commerce scams reported.
The number of e-commerce scams in Singapore more than doubled in 2023, rising to 9,783 cases from the 4,762 cases reported in 2022.
Many of the scams involve the sale of goods and services online that are not delivered after payment has been made. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), almost half of the e-commerce scams reported in 2023 were perpetrated on social media platform Facebook, where the number of cases surged to 4,550 from 1,138 in 2022.
Shopee up from 3 ticks previously
For the 2024 refresh, ratings for the e-commerce platform Shopee improved from three ticks previously to a maximum of four ticks, joining the likes of Amazon, Lazada, and Qoo10.
The improvement reflected Shopee's implementation of all the safety features deemed to be critical by MHA. These include user authentication and secure payment options.
Specifically, Shopee has fully implemented user verification against government-issued documentation for all sellers. The number of reported e-commerce scams on Shopee has reduced by 65 per cent as a result, falling from 311 cases in 2022 to 109 cases in 2023, MHA said.
Conversely, consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace Carousell's ratings remained unchanged at two ticks, while Facebook Marketplace had the lowest rating with one tick.
Also read: Facebook Marketplace, Carousell ranked lowest in anti-scam rating
Also read: Online home rental scams in Singapore increased by over 400 per cent in 2022
How are the e-commerce platform ratings conducted?
The TSR covers e-commerce marketplaces that facilitate online transactions from multiple sellers to multiple buyers with a significant local reach or a significant number of e-commerce scams reported.
The ratings are based on four categories, namely:
User authenticity (specifically verification of user identities against government-issued documentation).
Transaction safety, such as the availability of secure payment solutions.
Availability of loss remediation channels for consumers.
The effectiveness of the marketplaces' anti-scam measures.
The ratings range from one to four ticks, with four ticks being the highest rating. E-commerce marketplaces that put in place all the critical anti-scam measures and consequently experience a low number of scams on their platforms will be awarded the full four-ticks.
The government advised consumers to exercise greater caution when transacting on marketplaces that do not have the recommended anti-scam measures in place.
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