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Buyer be aware!

Forwarding (sent to me by my cousin):

"CRITICAL WARNING!!!! Radio talk show hostess, Kim Komando, did some digging about TEMU and this is what she found!

Seemingly overnight, everyone’s talking about Temu (pronounced “tee-moo”), an online shopping app that boasts deals that seem too good to be true, like $17 wireless earbuds, $1 “gold” necklaces and $23 wedding dresses.

Over 50 million Americans have downloaded Temu since it launched state-side in September 2022, after it gained traction with expensive Super Bowl ads promising to let you “shop like a billionaire.”

Today, Temu is the most popular shopping app in the U.S. behind Amazon. But most of us don’t know much about the app’s true origins. Reader Daniel Mayer asked an important question, “Is [Temu] something we should be concerned about?”

So, I did some digging. And as it turns out, yes, you absolutely should be. Here’s what I found:

Where did Temu come from?
This isn’t some fly-by-night operation. Temu is based in Boston, Massachusetts, by PDD Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: PDD). PDD is headquartered in Shanghai, China.

PDD also owns the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo headquartered in — you guessed it — China. So, Temu is a Communist China-based app and site.

What you need to know before using Temu:

First, you’re buying goods directly from manufacturers in China and other parts of the world. That’s why shipping times are often 12 days or longer. The prices are low because the goods are cheap. The pictures of what you see advertised may not be what you actually get.

Temu’s BBB rating is 2.21/5. Reviews at TrustPilot are interesting, with 38% 5-star reviews and 41% 1-star reviews. But that’s not the worst of it.

Temu is downright dangerous:

The app is a clever, pervasive digital stalker. As you shop, Temu monitors your activity on other apps, tracks your notifications and location and changes settings.

🛑 It gets worse:

Temu gains full access to all your contacts, calendars and photo albums, plus all your social media accounts, chats and texts. In other words, literally everything on your phone. This is scary

No shopping app needs this much control, especially one tied to Communist China. If you’re using Temu, uninstall the app from your phone ASAP.

Pro tip: If you downloaded Temu, to be safe from Chinese spies, you really need to do a full factory reset.

Temu’s sister app was removed from Google Play because of malware.

Do not buy from this company, or use their app!
Stuffy · 61-69, F
I suspected this for no reason other than there must be a catch.
robertsnj · 51-55, M
@Stuffy love the pun" must be a catch!" Brilliant!
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@Stuffy They are very aggressive with the ads on Pinterest and Facebook.
robertsnj · 51-55, M
That is a lot of typing and a lot of emotion. Did you or a friend get burned by TEMU?
Ontheroad · M
@robertsnj It came from my cousin - her daughter got burned by Temu. It was researched by Kim Komando, a talk show host and that's a summary of what she found.
robertsnj · 51-55, M
@Ontheroad got --i thought you typed all that--sorry for my confusion and sorry for your cousin's daughter.
I appreciate the heads up.
Im not so sure that this isnt a radio DJ, or where they got their informations from, isn’t just pushing anti China propaganda.
I dont see them as any different than any other e-commerce platform.

You know who also collects our data?
Everyone.
I have more network activity from a site i went to for health advice one time today than Temu. What data? Not sure, most of it seems to be google services.
Maybe we should talk more about google, our overlords.
RedBaron · M
The expression is “Buyer beware.”

And who is “everyone” talking about Temu? I haven’t heard anyone talk about it.
RedBaron · M
@Stuffy Not at all. But lame attempts at sarcasm just seem stupid.
Stuffy · 61-69, F
@RedBaron because I really don’t like sarcasm on the internet. And I’ve made a point of saying so numerous times. But I’ve never found clichés too burdensome and exaggerations only bothers me when they distort an important fact.
RedBaron · M
@Stuffy OK
Virgo79 · 61-69, M
It's obviously china app.
Tictok is about the same
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
I will never buy from them. They try to bait you with ads of things that are dirt cheap and many of these things are very practical. I have heard of people getting their debit accounts drained after they started ordering from them.
Oster1 · M
I always knew this and was 'too good', to be true. Asymmetric warfare? WELL DUH!!!
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@Oster1 I have heard that it is the Chinese that are behind the aggressive phone calls, text-messages and mailers wanting to buy property from homeowners and businesses. They also own at least one solar panel company that is very aggressive sending out young guys as salesmen repeatedly knocking on doors in neighborhoods telling us that they weren’t there to sell anything but to save us money on energy because they know we are paying too much for electricity. My neighbors, an elderly company, fell for their spiel. They got solar panels installed on two sides of their roof. It’s going to take 70 years to pay off the loan, and they are not saving as much as the what the monthly payments cost. Plus those panels are not going to last in Oklahoma, too many severe storms here. What will happen is after they die they will get their house seized due to taking out that loan. They are in their early 70’s. It’s a shame. China was also behind the Confucius Institute that had a presence on college campuses. Supposedly set up to share & educate others about the culture of China. They wouldn’t hear any criticism of Communism. And there were people saying that they were stealing intellectual property on campuses across the country. Rumors that college presidents were getting paid off to allow them to be on campus….payoffs of homes in China for example.
Oster1 · M
@cherokeepatti Absolutely it is! You are no fool!!! 🥰🤗😘❤️
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@Oster1 No telling what else China is behind in this country. Have to be wary of everything these days.
Goodluckwiththat · 56-60, M
Temu? Like Temu Selanne, the hockey player??
Musicman · 61-69, M
This is really scary. Thank you for posting this.
Temu raised the hairs on the back of my neck after the first week of becoming aware of it ....it's ads were EVERYWHERE!

Which begs the question - how could a starter platform afford such an advertising campaign?.

Then something came up in an article I was reading about the clothing industry, and Temu was mentioned . It dump it's surplus stock in some poor county. It does this so that it can avoid the extreme cost of doing it in it's own country. It makes it another countries problem - MOINTAINS of synthetic clothing that won't biodegrade .

My bet it is it's some rich man's new toy to extort the consumerism of the new age .
Thank you for this. The prices seemed a bit too good to be true, so I was always hesitant. Good to know to stay away.
iamonfire696 · 41-45, F
You know where all the stuff from Amazon comes from. All the same places Temu gets it from.

It’s just cutting out the middle man.

Whether or not the rest of that stuff is true that’s a risk a person would have to decide they need to take for themselves but most of the things are available on Amazon with a higher mark up.
Oster1 · M
@iamonfire696 I so well, understood. 🙂
Ontheroad · M
@iamonfire696 I have zero first-hand knowledge of any of it. I noted it was forwarded from my cousin and the person who did the research is named in the article.

Basically, it's information and people can do with it what they will.
iamonfire696 · 41-45, F
@Ontheroad I figured you didn’t. I was just putting that info out there for people as well.
Renaci · 36-40
Lol wish 2.0

 
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