Retired teacher loses over RM80,000 in ‘TikTok Shop’ scam

JERTIH – A 67-year-old retired teacher lost RM82,600 after falling for an online scam linked to a fake TikTok Shop offer.

Besut district police chief Supt Azamuddin Ahmad@Abu said the victim encountered a suspicious business advertisement on Facebook on April 27, promoting an opportunity to open a TikTok Shop.

"The victim was asked to send a copy of his MyKad and a selfie for account registration. Once the victim’s alleged TikTok Shop was set up, he was required to make an initial capital deposit for the online shop.

"He then made the initial deposit and received a small return. The victim, who had grown increasingly confident, went on to deposit further capital, making 13 transactions in total to seven different bank accounts provided by the suspect, amounting to RM82,600," he said.

He added that after the final transaction last Sunday, the victim began to suspect he had been scammed when the suspect continued to demand more capital.

"The ‘TikTok Shop’ is also believed to be fake as it was said to be using USD as the currency and although orders frequently appeared in the system, no payments were ever received.

"The victim lodged a report yesterday. The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code," he said.

Meanwhile, a check on the TikTok Malaysia website revealed that TikTok and TikTok Shop will never request users or merchants to download apps via external links or APK files.

“All users are advised to only download our apps (which are listed by TikTok Pte Ltd) via our official website (TikTok - Make Your Day) and platforms, including the Google Play Store, Apple App Store and Microsoft Store.

“If you have fallen victim to this scam, we encourage you to file a report to the local police so that they can thoroughly investigate. TikTok is committed to cooperating with local police while respecting the privacy, freedom of expression and rights of our users,” the statement read.

Users who suspected potential scams were also urged to report them through their application.