March 28, 2024

The Department of Trade and Industry reminded the public to be vigilant when engaging in online transactions.
The warning was issued as the DTI-Consumer Protection Group (DTI-CPG) receives queries and complaints from consumers daily, most of which are related to online shopping.  
To safeguard their personal and financial information, the DTI-CPG reminded consumers to use hard-to-guess passwords and not use the same password for online shopping websites that they use for logging onto their bank, home, or work computer.
Consumers were also reminded not to share their login information, secure their passwords, and always check the website if it has a Secured Socket Layer Certificate to confirm its legitimacy. This protects information (such as credit card number, addresses, and password) sent to the website.  
Online shoppers should select merchants carefully, confirm the online seller’s physical address and phone number beforehand, and review its return policy to avoid product return issues.  
Those purchasing online should also check the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) at the beginning of the website and when providing personal address, make sure the URL starts with https://.
The “s” stands for “secure” and indicates that the communication with the website is encrypted.  
Record of transactions, including official receipt/sales invoice must be kept.
“The DTI urges consumers to buy only from secured websites. Be wiser and more alert in order not to be taken advantage of by dishonest online sellers. We also urge online sellers to register their businesses with the government for them to avail of its services and to avoid unnecessary legal complaints,” said DTI-CPG Usec. Ruth B. Castelo.  
For consumer-related concerns and queries, send an email to [email protected] or contact One-DTI (1-384). – Press release