Even the second year of the corona pandemic has brought little reassurance for consumers, said the President of the Chamber of Labor (AK) Upper Austria, Andreas Stangl, on Tuesday at a media event in Linz. Questions about online business, leisure contracts and Internet fraud were primarily asked.
A total of 79,779 times in the previous year, those seeking advice had turned to the AK consumer protection groups. Due to Corona, the majority contacted us by e-mail (63,335 times), by e-mail or by letter (15,612). In 832 cases, those seeking help addressed the AK experts personally.
Ulrike Weiß, Head of AK Consumer Protection, described the most common problems: On the one hand, online and SMS fraud was “high season”. The criminals would often shamelessly exploit the misery and financial worries of the people, said Weiß. However, malware is hidden in fake messages, which are usually sent via SMS and in connection with orders that are said to be ready for collection or have gotten stuck at customs. This then elicits sensitive data and money from the victims. These links should by no means be clicked. Instead, you should inquire directly with the parcel service using the tracking number.
The problem with phishing attacks has increased significantly in times of home office. “The scammers usually have an easy time with this,” Weiss warned, and before transferring large sums of money, advised “sleep over it one more night, or even better, contact the Chamber of Labor.”
Due to the large number of orders during the corona pandemic, complaints about parcel delivery services also increased, according to the AK. Although in principle the parcel deliverers are responsible in the event of delayed delivery of the parcel, attempts are often made to pass this on to the customer. But: “The risk of the goods disappearing is borne by the seller until they have been properly delivered,” said Weiß. In most of the cases reported to the AK, the delivery was not documented. In many cases, AK was then able to obtain a replacement delivery.
Other issues that the consumer advocates had to deal with included travel – keyword canceled flights – leisure and construction.
Source: Nachrichten
