Rastislav Búgel
Technologies
Do you shop at the popular TEMU online marketplace? In that case, you should be very careful.
Source: Dnes24.sk
The Chinese Internet marketplace TEMU has literally become a hit. E-shops often attract extremely favorable prices, but security experts warn of risks from all over the world.
Czechs also fell in love with TEMU. As it turned out, some got into serious trouble because of it. The portal tn.cz drew attention to cases of people whose money started disappearing from their accounts after shopping at a Chinese store.
They lost large sums of money
“Once on Valentine’s Day, I was ordering balloons for a celebration in the salon. After 14 days, they took 87,000 from me out of nowhere (more than 3,400 euros, editor’s note). It was at two o’clock in the morning, there was no notification about anything, about any payment, I had no idea about it. Only when I looked at the account, there was a loss of 87 thousand,” professional hairdresser Filip Kraus confided.
Fortunately, in this case, everything turned out well. Kraus contacted the bank and after two weeks he got his money back. “But a lot of people have told me that it’s already deducting a smaller amount per month,” he added.
A similar inconvenience happened to Mrs. Jane working in Germany. After her third purchase at TEMU, 10,000 crowns (almost 400 euros) gradually disappeared from her account. “I ordered clothes, some trinkets for TEMU, about three times. After the first order, nothing happened, everything was fine, the second as well, after the third order, money started disappearing from my account. A euro, four euros, such a small testicle, will I notice it? You calmly walked away with 300 euros for nothing,” she revealed.
TEMU is resisted
Tn.cz also contacted the portal itself. However, he claims that shopping with them is safe. “Our payment links are encrypted and secured in accordance with payment card standards, and we work with major payment providers with their own additional security protocols. We have also introduced multi-factor authentication to ensure user access,” said spokesman Milosz Ciekalski.
What risks do you face?
A cyber security expert points out that due to the huge popularity of TEMU, a large number of cybercriminals have targeted the platform. “We have already recorded hundreds, maybe thousands of cases when users received informational e-mails that pretended to be some kind of TEMU Rewards, some kind of rewards, but it had nothing to do with TEMU. The moment the user clicks on that link, he gets to a page that perfectly imitates the TEMU environment. If he enters his login data there, he will actually reveal his data to some attackers,” Petr Kadrmas explains.
However, Filip and Jana, whose cases were recalled by the tn.cz server, are convinced that they did not click on any suspicious links. Similar practices by cyber attackers are not the only problem for the popular Chinese store. As the server reminds, the Czech National Office for Cyber and Information Security recently warned against the platform.
“When you install that app, you give access to your microphone, your contacts, everything. If you have a card there that you normally use, you’ll basically hand it over as well,” warns IT expert Miloslav Lujka.
Security bought by low prices?
Cybersecurity expert Petr Kadrmas adds that when something looks very tempting and the prices are suspiciously low, there is always some risk and problem: “Every trader wants to make money. If he doesn’t make money by wanting to sell you some goods, then he tries to make money in other ways, for example by collecting sensitive data and reselling it.”
The Czech Trade Inspection (ČOI) has already dealt with the complaints, but its hands are tied. Most often, it registers complaints about undelivered goods, or about the delivery of goods other than what people ordered.
The French have already taken action
As tn.cz reminds, the cup of patience with Internet marketplaces has already overflowed, for example, in France. “The lower house of the local parliament approved a law that prohibits advertising on these marketplaces, prohibits them from cooperating with influencers, and introduces a surcharge of 10 euros on goods from them. It has to protect the domestic market, consumer health and the environment,” writes the server.
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Photo: illustrative
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Source: Dnes24.sk
