Temu is not a traditional scam, but many of its tactics—such as extreme discounts, psychological pressure, and mass data collection—make the platform feel suspicious or misleading to users. Consumers should be cautious and review products and sellers carefully.

Why does Temu feel suspicious?

Temu feels suspicious because of its aggressive promotional tactics, extremely low prices, inconsistent product quality, and heavy emphasis on personal data collection. These elements resemble common patterns seen in scam-like or deceptive online marketplaces.

Why are Temu’s prices so low?

Temu uses a loss-leader strategy where products are sold at or below cost to rapidly acquire customers. The platform prioritizes growth over profit, which allows it to offer unusually low prices that may appear too good to be true.

Does Temu collect my data?

Yes. Temu collects personal data such as browsing behavior, purchase history, device information, and in some cases location data. This level of data collection raises privacy concerns for users who are not aware of how their information is used.

How can I shop safely on Temu?

To shop safely on Temu, avoid deals that seem excessively cheap, check seller ratings, read recent reviews, use secure payment methods, and avoid sharing unnecessary personal information. Be cautious with ads that pressure you to act quickly.

What should I do if I regret buying from Temu?

If you feel misled or regret your purchase, review Temu's return and refund policies, contact their customer support through the official app, and monitor your bank account for unexpected charges. You can also report misleading sellers or advertisements directly within the platform.

Is Temu a Scam? Why Temu Feels Suspicious & How to Stay Safe

Daniel Fayoyin
Nov 5
10 min read

Updated: Nov 19

Published Date: 2025/11/5

Last Updated: 2025/11/19

Graphic showing the Temu app icon on a smartphone surrounded by warning signs, representing Temu scam concerns, data risks, and potential security issues.

Let's be honest. There is something unnerving about shifting though an infinite catalogue of cheap products that promise amazing value coming from places we know little to nothing about. Add to that, the fact that the platform feels like an arcade and casino tempting us at every click or gesture. Then it makes perfect sense why our alarm bells start to ring.

“This must be too good to be true”..... “Have I been manipulated into buying this dirt cheap casing for the knife set I bought last week”..... “Why does this game keep getting harder the more I play it to acquire points”....... “Why does everyone I know keep trying to give me a referral to join Temu when I already downloaded the app”

These concerns are natural. In recent years, the same concerns were raised about Wish. Yet, in the end, Temu out competed Wish, to become the growing and dominant player it is today. When we think about it, a lot of the tactics that Temu uses in its marketing and engagement efforts are tactics used to varying extents by most dominant internet platforms today. I’m sure most of us have fallen victim to doom scrolling multiple times in recent months :)

This doesn’t mean that you can't get scammed during your customer experience with Temu. And yes, the scams are out there. In this article, we breakdown the aspects of Temu that make us feel like it's a scam. Highlight some of the correspondences between Temu and other internet platforms, and give you some practical advice about how to stay safe online while shopping on Temu.

Summary

This guide breaks down why Temu feels suspicious and what you need to know to stay safe while using it:

How Temu’s business model works, and why MLM acquisition strategy leads to high number of fake links.
Why Temu’s advertising and promotional tactics feel like scams, including aggressive discounts, urgency triggers, and psychologically manipulative offers.
How Temu collects and uses your data, and why this raises privacy concerns, especially compared to traditional retailers.
How to shop safely on Temu — what to avoid, what to double-check, and how to protect your personal information.
What to do if you’ve already made a purchase and feel unsure or think you were misled.

Temu’s Scam Characteristics

There are 3 main characteristics of Temu that might lead one to feel like there is a scam. These are: Temu’s acquisition strategy, Temu’s promotional tactics and Temu’s Engagement philosophy. Let's break this down.

Temu’s Acquisition Strategy

Temu’s acquisition strategy is similar to a Multi Level Marketing set up. Where: after someone signs up on Temu, Temu gives them an incentive to try and get other people to sign up. This leads to a scenario where your friends, family and even strangers start soliciting you to join Temu with their codes specifically. And low and behold, you eventually find out that when you join, benefits will also accrue to you when you start to shop on Temu and entice other people to shop on it as well. This is classic MLM. However, this is a perfect scenario where we get to provide a clear distinction about when an MLM is a scam, or when it is a legitimate business. Regarding this, the key thing to remember is that an MLM earns money primarily from its compensation structure. This means, legitimate businesses can use incentives for customer referrals as an acquisition strategy. Many have, and currently do. But the bread and butter of their business. I.e, their main source of revenue, is from selling products or services to customers and not from compensation via recruiting more people. Most of Temu’s revenue comes from the products that are sold on the platform by its vendors. Hence, in that sense, Temu is definitely not a scam. It is simply an eCommerce business that uses MLM as an acquisition strategy.

That said, as we mentioned above. Scams do happen on Temu. This is another perfect opportunity for us to understand the idea behind the attack vector for some of these scams. One the whole. You must remember that scammers think in terms of attack vectors. By this, I mean that they pick their points of attack strategically. Taking advantage of specific characteristics of a given situation or “set up”. Because Temu employs an MLM acquisition strategy this gives scammers a perfect angle of attack. They know what you know, namely, that there are a lot of Temu links and referral codes out there with some great discounts and potential saving value. This gives them a perfect opportunity to mix their bad links with the legitimate ones. By this, they also play on the fact that your guard is lower because you take it as given that these deals exist on Temu. That’s why this scam is kinda perfect. Temu already has a reputation for offering crazy deals when you join. So the scammers know that they can infiltrate your feed with their bad links that also offer some great perks for joining.

That said, how can you avoid this? With regards to acquisition, I would say accept referral links only from people you know! Not from a random site on the internet. Or from a random email sending you a referral link. If it's from someone you know, it's likely to have come directly from the platform itself (Temu) and directly to you. And on top of that, even if you know the person, make sure the person sending you the link does it in context. I.e in the context of a properly functioning conversation and not with them trying to add you to a list of people they have already been reaching out to. Remember, scams are more of a social glitch than a technical exploit and it is easy for us to become accessories in the operations of a scam network. If you have a friend or acquaintance that is aggressively trying to get you to sign up using their code, then don’t accept it. They probably acquired bulk referral codes from somewhere and it is likely that some of those codes are illegitimate.

Temu’s Promotional Tactics

Temu gives out the discounts. And they give it out “bigly”. Think of Temu and Donald Trump as similar in this vein. Donald Trump has the big beautiful bill (BBB) and Temu has the BBD, (the Big Beautiful Discounts (get your heads out the gutter people)) . So yes, the discounts are far and wide on Temu, and these are discounts on already cheap products. Something must be up. We start to think about the working conditions and hours that it takes to get things this cheap. And all the corners that had to be cut. For example an Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) study found that for certain categories of products bought on Temu, Shein and AliExpress, 47% were likely counterfeit.

These concerns are valid. Regarding this there are two things going on. First, Temu is a marketplace, sort of like Ali Express. This means, out of the thousands of manufacturers selling their products on Temu there is likely to be some that have cut corners, plagiarized their products, sold counterfeit goods and treated their workers poorly. Second, due to the nature of Temu’s business model, Temu does have a legitimate edge with respect to cost. Which then allows it to provide some legitimately good discounts. Temu’s discounts are also short term in nature, and like all discounts. They might come with some unexpected conditions attached.

So the question is how do we disentangle the two. Regarding the first one it is a question of thinking about how we assess the vendors we purchase from. In a world where we are all online shopping, this imperative skill is hardly talked about. To recognize a disreputable vendor, you must focus on:

The effort they have put into the quality of their product page.
1. Quality of images
2. Quality of videos
3. Quality of the description
4. Nature of the product naming.
  1. i Is the naming naming excessive and trying to hit too many keywords
5. Reviews
  1. This also includes whether these reviews are believable. It is estimated that over 30% of reviews on the internet are fake (According to wisereview). Therefore, we must really pause and think through what we read in reviews and assess their authenticity

Does the entity have an external online presence? If they are a legitimate entity, you should be able to find signs of their existence outside of the platform. Outside of Temu. Before we click “add to cart” it wouldn’t hurt to always do a quick search on who we are buying from. The main thing here is: are they transparent! Their presence doesn’t have to be large, but they need to have a transparent online presence.

Again, remember that scammers think in terms of attack vectors. So the fact that Temu does have these legitimate discounts mean that scammers can mix their illegitimate links and discounts and products with Temu’s actual promotions.

We can stay safe from these by knowing that we as consumers have the power. Our purchases and buying decisions are the engine of the world. Before we buy anything on the internet we need to pause and think about who we are buying from. Regardless of what platform or website it is on. When we pause, and take the time to consider the fact that we are entering a business transaction, we must first understand who we are dealing with. The more we take time to investigate these things, the better we become at knowing how to quickly spot the fake from the real. Empowerment is one of the main methods of preventative defense to stay safe online.

Temu’s Engagement Philosophy

Basically, Temu’s engagement philosophy is the same as TikTok’s! Which is similar to Facebook and Youtube and Twitter. They want you on the site for as long as possible! The reason it feels so strange for Temu compared to the others is because the others are all social media sites. Temu is a transaction based app so it makes you wonder, why is Temu employing social media engagement algorithms for an eCommerce site? The reason is, Temu found what we’ve all been saying for years. That the attention economy is here, and the attention economy can be monetised. Temu is just monetizing attention via the products it sells. Which is new. I suppose then the question is, how and why are they doing this.

They're doing this because the more you engage with the site the more data they have about you. And the more data they have about you, the more they know what exactly to sell you and at what time. You need to remember that the attention economy and the data economy are linked. Your engagement is data for the Youtube algorithm. With the end goal being that the Youtube algorithm feeds you more videos. The same for Temu, but the end goal is that the algorithm feeds you more products. Whether it's you playing a game on Temu, or earning credits via some scheme, or clicking the roulette wheel. All of that is engagement for the Temu algorithm. But then again, all eCommerce sites also employ these data mining tactics. Temu just found a specific model that worked for them. The Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) wrote an in depth article about Temu's data collection and how it can be just as intrusive as TikTok's.

That said, this can again be another attack vector for scammers. There have been gift card scams, Xbox scams, refund scams and other on Temu. The gamified nature of Temu makes it easy for scammers to create fake Temu sites and apps that look like the original and fool people into making dangerous financial decisions on their fake platforms. It also makes it easier for them to contact Temu customers via unorthodox and unsolicited channels.

This is why No scam always recommends engaging with your platform of choice always via the same channel. When you engage with a counter-party via a channel / medium that you don’t usually use, this leaves room for a security breach. If you only contact Temu via the app then always continue to do so via the app. If you need to reach Temu customer service then go back to the app and navigate to the customer service section in the app. If you then get a text from what seems to be Temu’s customer service don’t reply to that text. Go back to the app and contact them there. The same goes for if you always use email and the browser to engage with Temu then keep your communication channels mainly there. You will already likely have the correct means to resolve whatever issue you have using the channels you have used before rather than by entering a new one. Same for you old school phone users. If you always contact customer service through the phone then keep doing that. Always be cautious when you are changing your communication channel with a major platform.

Conclusion

Temu isn’t a traditional scam, but the way it operates can easily feel like one. The platform’s ultra-low prices, psychological sales tactics, aggressive advertising, and extensive data collection all contribute to a shopping experience that raises more questions than answers. These elements don’t necessarily mean Temu is fraudulent, but they do mean that users should approach the platform with caution and a clear understanding of how it works.

If you choose to shop on Temu, stay alert to red flags: check seller ratings carefully, avoid deals that seem too good to be true, read reviews from verified buyers, and use secure payment methods that offer protection. Be especially mindful of how much personal data you share and avoid connecting unnecessary information to your account.

Ultimately, Temu’s business model is built around growth, data, and extreme discounting — not transparency. Understanding this helps you decide whether the platform aligns with the type of online shopping experience you’re comfortable with. By staying informed and conscious of the risks, you can navigate Temu more safely and avoid the pitfalls that make many shoppers feel uneasy.

Here is a neat infographic that summarises the main points of this article:

Infographic titled ‘Why Temu Feels Suspicious,’ highlighting concerns about aggressive advertising tactics, extensive data collection, and inconsistent product quality

If you feel misled, regret a purchase, or suspect deceptive practices make sure to contact Temu support, review your financial statements, and take action quickly. Staying proactive is the best way to protect yourself when dealing with fast-growing digital marketplaces like Temu.

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