DTI warns consumers to be careful of product reviews online 

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Thursday warned consumers to be discerning with product reviews when shopping online.

DTI Consumer Protection and Advocacy Bureau OIC director Cheryl Carbonell said that some reviews online might seem suspicious based on the grammar and spelling of words. 

“Yung sa mga ganun po, ang aming payo sa mga consumers ay tignan nila yung comment. Kapag pare-pareho o kaya may mga spelling or grammatical error, pwede AI-generated na po ‘yun,” she said in Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon. 

(For those kinds of things, our advice to consumers is to look at the comments. If they're all the same, or if there are spelling or grammatical errors, it could already be AI-generated.) 

Moreover, DTI released this month a decision pause checklist to help senior citizens to be wise in buying products and protect them from scams. 

“Simpleng checklist po ‘yan para magabayan ang ating mga senior citizens. So dapat ang mga senior citizens ay mabigyan ng tamang impormasyon  tungkol sa produkto o serbisyo na kanilang binibili. Dapat din po hindi sila pinipilit na mag-desisyon agad at dapat ang kanilang bibilhin ay gusto nilang bilhin,” said Carbonell. 

(That is a simple checklist to guide our senior citizens. So, senior citizens should be given the right information about the product or service they are purchasing. Also, they should not be forced to decide immediately, and the product or service they want to purchase should be something that they really wanted.) 

The DTI official also said that it is coordinating with various agencies to protect consumers. — Vince Angelo Ferreras/BM, GMA Integrated News