The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has flagged a further 38 untraceable businesses, pushing the total number of suppliers accused of taking consumer payments without delivering goods or services – or supplying defective products – to 95.
The latest update follows an earlier revision on 11 July, when the Commission added 20 names to an initial list of 59 businesses.
Read: Suspect online car dealers feature in NCC’s list of vanishing suppliers
Taken together, the escalating numbers point to the growing scale of consumer harm linked to online transactions that end with suppliers vanishing without trace.
This week’s additions represent the largest single expansion of the list to date. The newly identified suppliers operate across Gauteng, North West, the Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal, with travel and tourism businesses and business directory listing services featuring most prominently this time round.
In travel and tourism, the Commission flagged Akhiwe Magadlela of Precision International RGNO in Gauteng, AMI Travel and Tours in Gauteng, Afrokulcha in Gauteng, AMI Group of Companies in Gauteng, Capital Car Hire in KwaZulu-Natal, VisaHQ in the Western Cape, BA Transferals in the Western Cape, and South African Relocations in the Western Cape.
Business directory listings again emerged as a high-risk area. The suppliers named include Reliable Store in Gauteng, The Tracing Group in KwaZulu-Natal, Mac Industrial Services in KwaZulu-Natal, Onair in KwaZulu-Natal, Sabibix in Limpopo, MSME Group Ltd in the Western Cape, Alcon Industrial Supplies in the Western Cape, Goortus Africa (Pty) Ltd in the Western Cape, and Moco West/MW Paper in the Western Cape.
The Commission said that in most cases the businesses have disappeared entirely, having abandoned their registered premises, shut down their websites, or cut off all known contact channels. As a result, consumers are left with no practical means to obtain refunds, replacements, or other forms of redress.
“Complaints received by the NCC indicate that consumers are unable to reach these suppliers, and the NCC’s attempts to trace these suppliers have been unsuccessful.”
Preliminary assessments suggest that some online suppliers are impersonating legitimate businesses with the intention of defrauding consumers. Others, the NCC said, fail to provide verifiable contact details or physical addresses, making it impossible for consumers to return incorrect or defective goods or to pursue complaints.
“The NCC views this conduct as a deliberate ploy by unscrupulous suppliers to rob consumers of their hard-earned money and ultimately evade accountability. Consumers are urged to exercise extreme caution when dealing with these suppliers.”
The Commission warned that e-commerce has become an increasingly attractive platform for scammers, particularly where consumers are pressed to pay upfront or lured by deals that appear unusually cheap or time-sensitive. The ease with which fraudulent websites can be launched and abandoned continues to complicate tracing and enforcement efforts.
Consumers shopping online are being urged to verify suppliers before making payment and to use the South African Fraud Prevention Services’ Yima platform to confirm whether online sellers are legitimate. The platform can also be used to report suspicious or fraudulent suppliers.
The updated list of flagged businesses has been published on the NCC’s website, with the Commission reiterating that it will continue to monitor complaints and investigate suppliers that contravene the Consumer Protection Act.
