Keep a close eye on your bank statements right now! A very popular app favored by millions of users in France is currently making fraudulent bank withdrawals.
If you surf the Web, you have surely not missed the Temu (pronounced “ti-mou”) phenomenon. With an ultra aggressive marketing policy – it’s very simple, we find advertisements everywhere on social networks, on YouTube, in advertising inserts… – coupled with unbeatable prices, the e-commerce platform has succeeded to conquer the Western market without great difficulty. It has managed to bring together no less than 75 million monthly users on the Old Continent and pushes us to consume more and more, even if it means buying trinkets that we absolutely do not need – after all, it only represents a few euros moreover ! But, despite its dazzling success, Temu has attracted strong criticism.
Worse still, a shopping session can quickly turn into a nightmare! Between errors in orders, extremely long delivery times, hidden costs, completely unsound after-sales service and sales of counterfeits, each order is a game of Russian roulette. The latest problem: fraudulent bank withdrawals made from customers’ accounts after they placed an order on Temu.
Many Quebecers claim to have been victims of fraudulent direct debits after a purchase on Temu. This is the case of Geneviève Desbiens, who lost a total of $300. After “having bought junk” for her bathroom, she is starting to see withdrawals multiply. “In five minutes, I was robbed of $300 from my prepaid credit card. I had been using this card for years“, she explains in a Facebook post.
And she’s not the only one ! There are dozens of similar cases. Same scenario for Martin Landerman, 43, who had just received a new credit card. His first and only trade was made on Temu. Total amount of fraud: $449. “Either Temu sells our private information, or the site is poorly protected against hackers”he laments.
In France, users are not spared from the flaws of the platform. On May 16, the European Consumer Unions Bureau (BEUC), bringing together some seventeen European consumer associations, including UFC-Que Choisir, filed a complaint against the Chinese online commerce platform. He accuses it of manipulating Internet users in order to push them to spend more and of lacking transparency, violating several provisions of the DSA. In France, UFC-Que Choisir filed a complaint with Arcom in support of the action.