Isn’t it weird going through your Instagram stories and seeing a beautifully curated ad pop up? Coincidentally, it is the same thing you were talking about with your best friend an hour or two ago. Is this weird or an everyday occurrence now?

A few months ago, my mother ordered these really gorgeous curtains from an online “Facebook” business. Mind you, it was just an ad, which she found attractive.

The package came in, and when we opened it, we were greeted with empty can bottles. To top it all off, the business had already blocked my mother’s Facebook account, and there was little to nothing we could do about it. I believe that is the beauty of working with Pakistani businesses but surely Pakistan isn’t the only place this is happening. We might believe it’s always the innocent aunties that get wrapped up in the business of scamming because we, as Gen-Z, are truly better than everyone else. We think wrong. 

Businesses are dropshipping their products from Alibaba and selling them for way more than what they are worth, and that is a scam too.

Drop shipping is a type of retail chain in which the supplier receives customer orders without maintaining stocks on hand. Alternatively, the vendor sends the purchases and their shipping information to the producer, a distributor, another retailer, or a fulfillment company, who then distributes the products directly to the buyer. This is a sort of supply chain management.

In other words, if the person receives it for Rs 50, they will sell it to us for Rs 5,000, which is a SCAM.

Online shopping is definitely easier to do and is more accessible in more than one way. It gives a person the freedom to explore and venture into new shops and to figure out what a person needs to buy. It gives businesses more leverage over consumers because they can’t touch or look at the product before purchasing and must rely on gut instinct, praying to the Lord that no one scams tonight. 

Have you ever been scammed? Let us know in the comments below.

cover image via CNBC