IKEA Philippines on Friday said it is taking action to address issues of rampant scamming by fake websites posing as the company’s online sellers.
IKEA said its product requirement and compliance team had already filed a formal report with the cybercrime division of the Philippine National Police regarding the fake websites.
In a forum, IKEA met with Attorney Gel De Gracia of the Department of Justice – Cybercrime Division who gave insights on what legal actions victims and consumers could do after encountering scams.
In June 6, 2021, the IKEA store in Pasay City received a report from consumer who saw a Facebook ad using the global home furnishing retailer’s name and logo. It did stop for a while after it was being reported until holiday season came and scammers took the opportunity to post more clickbait ads directing to fake websites.
“So that was taken as an opportunity for these people. So not only here in IKEA Philippines, but we also have fraudulent websites that happened in IKEA Singapore and IKEA Malaysia. So all three countries posted on social media to make sure that they only go to the official website. So from what happened in June it stopped and then it happened again in December and then until now,” shared IKEA Philippines Customer Contact Center Manager Catherine Egagamao.
As of March 1, there are already a total of 64 fake websites that have been reported. Meanwhile, there are currently around 700 scam complaints have been reported to IKEA Philippines. The Swedish furnishing brand launched its physical store in 2021.
Daniel Rivero, store manager of IKEA Philippines, meanwhile, expressed his dismay toward the continuous growing number of scammers who use the IKEA in victimizing Filipino consumers.
“We feel very, very sorry for those people. Unfortunately, I think there is a very small part of the people who complain. I believe most of the people who get fool of this situation. They don’t complain because this happened,” he said.
“So, I think, it’s much more than 700 who have been affected of this,” Rivero said.
Egagamao also urged Filipinos to be more vigilant in recognizing fake websites which used the brand’s name.
“As consumers, sometimes when we see the logo, we assumed that it’s legit, so we don’t usually immediately see the URL. What we should do is to be vigilant and check every single detail. Unfortunately, there are some customers now who get excited and then they forget to check those little details,” said Egagamao.
The brand lastly emphasized to purchase items from their official website ikea.ph and get updates on their official social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.