Samjhana Pandit of Lekhnath, Pokhara, spotted a skirt she liked on a TikTok account called ‘Nari Collection Nepal’. The skirt looked appealing in the video, and its price was lower than what she had seen in the market. Tempted by the bargain, she decided to order two.

“The quality also looked good in the video. When I saw that the price was much lower than what had been quoted in the market, I decided to buy two,” she said.

Pandit sent a screenshot of the skirts to the WhatsApp number listed in the TikTok account's bio. The seller quoted Rs1,600 for the two items but asked her to pay only the delivery charge initially.

She transferred Rs250 to an eSewa account registered in the name of Rajan Kumar Raut.

“When they asked me to pay the full amount for the products, I refused, saying I would not pay before receiving them. They then asked me to pay the delivery charge, so I sent that amount,” she said.

A short while later, the seller called again and insisted that the products would be dispatched only if she paid the full amount. When Pandit tried to call back, nobody answered. The seller stopped responding to her messages, and she realised that she had fallen victim to a scam.

Pandit is among the consumers who have lost money to fraudsters posing as online sellers. As online shopping expands, scammers are exploiting the growing demand for discounted goods, using convincing advertisements, large follower counts, and seemingly legitimate payment arrangements to win buyers' trust.

Selling clothes, shoes, household goods and other products through Facebook, Instagram and TikTok has become increasingly common. Sellers livestream their products late into the night, promise discounts and take orders through direct messages and messaging apps.

Some online retailers register with local governments or domestic and cottage industry offices, but many conduct business through social media without formal registration. The lack of verifiable business information makes it difficult for consumers to distinguish genuine sellers from fraudsters.

In July, Cilla Khatry, a research associate at an NGO and a resident of Dholahiti, Lalitpur, ordered a full-length mirror worth Rs7,500 from an Instagram page called AE Space_7 after paying Rs2,000 in advance. The seller promised delivery within two days but the mirror never arrived and the seller stopped responding.

“I usually buy goods online, but this was the first time I faced fraud. The page from where I got scammed had a verified blue tick and reviews, so I trusted it,” she said.

Khatry said she did not file a complaint with the authorities because of her work commitments and the demands of caring for her baby.

Her experience shows a recurring problem in social commerce: reviews and verification badges may not be enough to protect buyers from fraud.

Some consumers have been scammed once, while others have lost money repeatedly. Yet many victims do not report the incidents, particularly when the amounts involved are relatively small or they believe recovering the money will be difficult.

The Nepal Police Cyber Bureau says online fraud has risen sharply over the past few years.

“If there is no cash-on-delivery option and the seller asks for full payment online, then one needs to be cautious. In most online shopping cases that come to the Cyber Bureau, the buyer makes full payment and does not receive the goods,” said Superintendent of Police Deepak Raj Awasthi, the bureau's information officer.

Unusually low prices are another common lure, he said. Consumers should check whether cash on delivery is available, verify contact numbers and business locations, examine reviews and confirm whether sellers are registered with the relevant government authorities.

According to the Cyber Bureau, it received 1,373 complaints related to online fraud in fiscal year 2023-24. The number more than doubled to 2,939 in 2024-25 before falling sharply to 808 in 2025-26. In the first two and a half months of the current fiscal year, the bureau received just 83 complaints.

Awasthi said the bureau did not know why the number of complaints had dropped so sharply. The figures do not necessarily indicate that online fraud has declined, as they reflect complaints received rather than the total number of incidents.

Recovering money remains difficult. The bureau has been able to return money to only around 10 percent of complainants, Awasthi said.

One reason is that fraudsters often use what are known as money mule accounts—personal bank accounts or digital payment accounts used to receive and transfer money obtained through criminal activities.

The accounts act as intermediaries, obscuring the money trail and making it harder for investigators to identify those behind the scams. Fraudsters may use accounts registered in other people's names to receive payments before moving the money elsewhere.

“They use money mule accounts, and the SIM cards are then disposed of once they cheat people,” Awasthi said.

Scammers often deactivate their social media accounts, switch off their phones, or change numbers after collecting advance payments. Some operate anonymously and use popular content creators or influencers in advertisements to make their offers appear legitimate, said Anil Kirati, information officer at the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection.

Authorities are considering setting up a dedicated mechanism to respond more quickly to online shopping fraud.

The Cyber Bureau has sent a proposal to the Home Ministry to establish a specialised centre that would bring police personnel and bank officials together to handle complaints and potentially stop suspicious transactions before the money is transferred further.

“We have sent the proposal to the Home Ministry, which needs to be approved by the Finance Ministry as well. A separate cell will be set up where Nepal Police and officials from banks will work together,” Awasthi said.

Under the proposed arrangement, consumers who fall victim to fraud would be able to report it by phone, allowing authorities to act quickly and seek to hold the transactions before the money disappears.

The initiative comes as the government attempts to bring the rapidly expanding online marketplace under a formal regulatory framework.

Despite the growth of e-commerce, only 384 businesses have so far been registered with the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection. Another 1,418 businesses are in the process of registration, according to the department.

The Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) Act, 2024, and the Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) Directive, 2025, have come into force, making registration with the department mandatory for businesses selling goods and services through digital platforms.

The legal framework is intended to address problems ranging from online fraud and misleading advertisements to the sale of substandard goods and services.

Businesses that fail to register within the stipulated period can be fined Rs20,000. However, the penalty has not yet been enforced as the department is giving businesses time to familiarise themselves with the new requirements.

Kirati said businesses could register online free of charge by uploading the required documents.

“Many are in the process of registration, while some are still unaware of the requirement,” he said. “Small businesses selling products through social media must also register. Once they are registered, it becomes easier to follow up and initiate action if problems arise.”

Formal registration would provide authorities with a means to identify sellers and pursue complaints. But bringing anonymous operators to justice remains difficult, particularly when accounts and payment details are used to conceal the identity of those actually running the scams.

Sagar Dev Bhatta, co-founder of MeroKirana, an online grocery shopping platform, said the Nepal Rastra Bank and the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection needed to do more to inform consumers about online fraud and ways to avoid it.

Consumers should ask for value-added tax bills when purchasing goods online and ensure that payments are made to a company's account rather than an individual's personal account, he said. Such precautions could help reduce the risk of fraud and establish a clearer trail for transactions.

“Digitisation has been growing, but it lacks awareness,” Bhatta said.

Greater awareness would not only help consumers protect themselves but also build trust in legitimate online shopping platforms, he said. A lack of confidence in digital transactions could harm genuine businesses as well as consumers, particularly as more retailers move their sales online.

Nepal's e-commerce sector expanded rapidly after the Covid pandemic, when movement restrictions pushed consumers towards online purchases. Rising internet access, growing smartphone use, digital payments, social commerce, and faster deliveries have since helped sustain that growth.

According to Infinity Digital Agency, a digital marketing agency in Nepal, the country has around 10,000 e-commerce businesses, and the number is expected to grow by about 5.4 percent annually.

But the proliferation of online sellers has outpaced efforts to ensure that consumers can reliably identify legitimate businesses and seek redress when something goes wrong.

For buyers such as Pandit and Khatry, the consequences are immediate: money changes hands, products never arrive, and sellers disappear. For authorities, the challenge is to identify those behind the accounts, trace the money and recover it before it slips beyond their reach.