Mudah.my Scams

Scams has always been around since greed was ‘invented’. So, with today’s technology, it has become easier to become a victim of scam, and if you look at the bright side, to become a successful scam artist.

Mudah.my is an online classified platform that allows seller to post their items with a short description of what they are selling, the price of the product and a few photos.

If you have ever transacted on Mudah.my, you would know that it’s a platform full of crocodiles, as compared to say, Lelong.my. This is not to say Lelong.my does not have their own share of sinister traders, but Mudah.my is one place that these scam artists are allowed to fester.

The situation got so bad that buyers are not willing to buy unless sellers offer them COD (Cash on Delivery) services- which means a face-to-face, belly-to-belly meet-up for the transaction. This is necessary if you are selling used cars or dealing with properties, but if you are selling a toothbrush, there’s no way you can make it a scalable sales channel.

I ‘was’ once an active Mudah.my merchant too, but if you are serious about growing your e-commerce business, there are much better things to do.

So, what could Mudah.my do? Of course, there are many things they should have done to safeguard buyers, because in an online classified platform, there’s only one party that stands to lose the most- the buyers.

It’s not up to me to advise how the biggest trading platform in Malaysia should go about doing their business. From the way I see it, they definitely do not have the buyers interest in mind, because revenue comes from sellers’ listing fee and advertising credits. This is one website that should have a big ‘BUYER BEWARE’ banner in all their pages.

As with all anti-scam strategy, here’s a 3-step check list before you transact:
1) Deal is too good to be true?
2) Can you easily verify reputation and legitimacy of the seller?
3) Ensure all transactions (bank-in slips, SMS, emails) are documented for damage control later on.