6 Temu Scams You Should Be Aware Of

In 2023, a caller low-cost online shop deed headlines and drew successful millions of customers worldwide. Temu, a Chinese online marketplace, offers users conscionable astir everything, from clothing, to pet accessories, to homeware. But this tract has received its adjacent stock of criticism, and location are galore scams circulating that are luring customers each day.

So, let's talk nan apical Temu scams and really you tin debar them.

Is Temu a Scam Site?

The Temu website is quite akin to sites for illustration Shein and Alibaba. While a batch of customers person a lackluster acquisition shopping connected these platforms, others time off rave reviews astir nan products they receive. Temu decidedly isn't a full scam website. If anything, it's a gamble.

This is because Temu mostly sells lower-quality aliases knockoff products. For instance, you whitethorn get a stapler that only useful for a fewer weeks aliases a t-shirt that's made of very bladed material. Often, you will get a product, but location whitethorn beryllium immoderate benignant of value compromise.

If Temu didn't database products astatine an incredibly debased price, it apt wouldn't beryllium arsenic celebrated arsenic it is today. And erstwhile we opportunity low, we mean low.

Look astatine nan screenshot above, for example. With wireless Lenovo earphones for conscionable complete $12 and a brace of Playstation controllers for little than $20, location seems to beryllium thing amiss here. As is often nan lawsuit erstwhile shopping online, it's worthy being cautious if you spot products being sold for an incredibly debased price.

But we tin only estimate truthful overmuch by conscionable looking astatine nan website. To get a amended idea, let's look astatine what existent customers are saying.

On Trustpilot, Temu has an wide standing of 3.5 stars retired of 5 astatine nan clip of writing. This isn't an outright horrible rating, but leaves thing to beryllium desired. So, what are dissatisfied customers saying?

31 percent of nan Trustpilot Temu reviews were one-star. Users who near nan lowest ratings had a number of complaints, including items ne'er arriving, unprompted refunds, mediocre value items, and mediocre customer service. Among all, it seems that nan astir communal complaints are concerned pinch items ne'er arriving, and customer work past being of small to nary help.

The five-star reviews, connected nan different hand, return up 49 percent of nan full ratings. Customers who had a wholly affirmative acquisition were mostly happy astir nan low-priced items and free gifts.

Temu is yet to beryllium accredited by nan Better Business Bureau (BBB), truthful it's reliable to cognize what nan charismatic stance is connected its legitimacy. However, location person been galore comments near connected nan BBB website from customers of Temu, a batch of which are negative. The BBB has fixed Temu a standing of C+, pinch customer reviews averaging 2.5 retired of 5 stars.

It's important to statement that anyone tin waste connected Temu, which boosts nan chance of scams. You tin motion up arsenic a Vendor connected nan Temu website and past waste your ain items, which seems for illustration a awesome measurement to make a profit, but besides opens nan doorway to malicious actors.

Top Temu Scams and Pitfalls

There are a number of scams and pitfalls to watch retired for erstwhile dealing pinch Temu...

1. Shoddy aliases Non-Existent Items

Two of nan biggest complaints fixed by Temu customers are poor-quality items and items that ne'er arrive.

According to its official website, Temu offers free transportation for astir orders to nan US (unless you want faster shipping, which will costs you $12.90 if your bid is nether $129). Temu's free transportation work takes betwixt 5 and 25 days, but moreover this agelong model has travel and gone for galore customers, pinch a bully woody of orders ne'er arriving astatine all.

While astir Temu products are incredibly cheap, you still don't want to beryllium paying money for items you'll ne'er see.

Out of nan first 10 one-star reviews listed connected Trustpilot, half of them were regarding transportation issues. Most of these users ne'er received immoderate items, while 1 only received half their order. So, it seems to beryllium beautiful communal to tally into transportation problems pinch Temu.

Additionally, Temu has been criticized for its low-quality products.

Of course, there's very apt a narration betwixt Temu's debased prices and merchandise quality. While immoderate users person bully products that they're very happy with, others person lackluster items that sometimes don't fresh nan website merchandise description.

Again, it seems there's thing of a bet to beryllium taken here. When ordering from Temu, you'll sometimes person a hit, and sometimes a miss. It's very important to admit that nan very debased prices do travel pinch a caveat, and that's a deficiency of reliability.

2. Data Collection

A large interest that galore person voiced astir Temu is its postulation and usage of customer data. The aforesaid concerns person been raised towards different Chinese companies, including Shein and TikTok. But is Temu really a information risk, aliases are these conscionable rumors and speculation?

Let's first return a look astatine Temu's privateness policy.

As you tin spot above, there's an atrocious batch of information that Temu claims to collect. This includes:

• Contact information.
• Location information.
• Marketing preferences.
• Payment information.
• Social information number.
• Tax ID number.
• Driver's license.
• Birthdate.
• Profile sanction and picture.

But things don't extremity there. Temu besides collects various kinds of third-party data, instrumentality data, and moreover online activity. For instance, Temu tin spot what web you're connected to, instrumentality capacity logs, browser type, CPU usage, and more. Additionally, nan institution collects information connected websites you've visited extracurricular Temu, entree clip and browsing time, arsenic good arsenic whether you person opened aliases clicked connected Temu emails.

Note that this is simply a pitfall, not a scam, arsenic Temu does plainly authorities what benignant of information it is collecting successful its privateness policy.

However, galore claims person been made astir Temu stealing customer data. The US has besides accused Temu person being a information consequence successful ray of its sister app, Pinduoduo, being suspended by Google owed to nan beingness of malware. According to a CNBC article, nan malware was "found to leverage circumstantial vulnerabilities for Android phones."

However, cybersecurity experts person said they are not concerned astir this imaginable risk.

3. Fake Reviews

Temu reviews are important to consult, but thing to watch retired for erstwhile considering buying an point is clone reviews. When a tract has a shady reputation, galore prospective customers will caput to nan reviews to spot what erstwhile customers are saying.

Some Temu sellers whitethorn station phony reviews to springiness their business a faux aerial of legitimacy and reliability. You should consult trusted reappraisal websites erstwhile considering buying an point connected Temu, alternatively of looking astatine nan website's ain reviews. Even if a seller is very highly rated connected Temu, nan lawsuit whitethorn beryllium very different successful reality.

4. Phony Refund Claims

Sometimes, Temu users are fixed refund guarantees anterior to purchase, only to beryllium stonewalled by nan website erstwhile a refund is requested. It's reliable to flooded this hurdle, arsenic nan seller tin make nan declare that they'll return returns and past simply disregard a purchaser erstwhile they want to process a return aliases record a complaint.

Some Temu customers besides negociate to afloat process a refund but person a difficult clip doing so, beryllium it owed to delayed return shipping, mediocre customer support, and truthful on.

5. Poor Customer Service

Another large Temu pitfall is its customer support.

While Temu claims to person a 24/7 unrecorded chat and robust support center, a batch of users person complained astir mediocre customer service.

Many antagonistic Temu reviews are concerned pinch nan deficiency of customer support. While Temu does often respond to customer requests, nan institution does not ever fulfill them.

6. Temu-Associated Scams

There are besides scams that don't return spot connected Temu, but usage Temu's sanction to lure successful victims. This scope of scams includes:

• Fake Temu websites.
• Fake Temu login requests.
• Criminals posing arsenic Temu customer service.
• Criminals offering free Temu gifts.

If you do want to usage Temu, make judge you're utilizing nan charismatic site, and don't interact pinch immoderate Temu communications from shady emails. You could besides effort getting successful touch pinch Temu yourself if you person an overseas email aliases DM.

Temu Is a Gamble

While galore group rave astir Temu, location are besides thousands of group who person had an inconvenient aliases outright atrocious acquisition pinch nan marketplace. It seems to beryllium a hit-or-miss retailer, truthful make judge you return be aware erstwhile ordering from nan site.