During The Pandemic Period, The E-Commerce Sector Was Most Frequently Complained By Consumers

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The National Consumer Protection Agency (BPKN) noted a shift in the pattern of complaints throughout December 2020. In previous years, most complaints came from the housing sector. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the e-commerce sector was the largest contributor.

Chairman of BPKN, Rizal Edy Halim said, of the 1,276 complaints received by BPKN this year, the largest increase occurred in the financial and e-commerce sectors.

"There has been a shift from complaints over the past few years which were dominated by the housing sector, so there are two sectors that have jumped quite high during this pandemic, namely the financial sector and the e-commerce sector," he said, in a virtual press conference, Monday, December 14th.

Rizal said, BPKN is temporarily focusing on these two sectors. This is because the regulations of these two sectors have not been steady.

"The impact of the cases that hit these two sectors is massive and unsettling for the public," he said.

On the same occasion, Deputy Chairman of BPKN Rolas B Sitinjak said, from 1,276 complaints, in the e-commerce sector there were 295 cases as of 11 December 2020. The number of e-commerce complaints during COVID-19 has jumped from the 2017-2019 position which only had 32 case.

"E-commerce has experienced the sharpest increase. Yesterday's e-commerce was only 1.35 percent for 3 years (2017-2019). 2020 increased sharply to 23.11 percent," said Rolas.

Furthermore, Rolas explained, out of 295 cases, 94 consumers had received their rights back. Meanwhile, 201 other complaints are still in the process of being handled.

According to Rolas, this e-commerce case is generally related to one-time password (OTP) and phishing cases. He said phishing usually appears as a link that is deliberately sent to consumers with the lure of being attractive to consumers. However, in reality the link opens the door for criminals to enter consumer accounts.

Meanwhile, OTP is a mechanism for setting passwords by sending a special code that should only be accepted by consumers. But in one way or another, criminals can also get that code.

The e-commerce case is also related to the problem of refunds or refunds, vouchers, purchase prices, cashback, TIX points and others.

Not only in the e-commerce sector, said Rolas, an increase in complaints also occurred in the financial services sector. Throughout 2017-2019 there were 226 complaints or 9.5 percent of complaints. Meanwhile, in 2020, it increased by 16.48 percent or 201 complaints a year.

From 205 complaints received by BPKN, 67 consumers have received their rights. Meanwhile, 138 others are still in the process of being handled.

The cases experienced by consumers include financing, insurance, investment, digital money, banking and pawnshops.