cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/33124406

Think you’ve found a great deal on TikTok to buy Lululemon or Louis Vuitton directly from the factory? Experts say you might want to think again about how real the claims in that video are.

In recent days, social media users claiming to have an inside scoop on how and where luxury brands are really made have begun popping up online, especially on TikTok.

In the videos, users claim to be Chinese manufacturers, or say they have friends in high positions at factories that make luxury goods. They go on to say that brands like Louis Vuitton, Lululemon, Hermes and more make their products in China, and claim the items are made for much less than they’re sold for.

Some of the videos also offer links or website names that they say users can go to in order to purchase versions of their favourite products of the same quality but for a fraction of the price.

Other accounts, like @lunasourcingchina which shared a very popular video claiming that Lululemon products could be bought directly from Chinese factories for $5 or $6, have since disappeared from TikTok, though accounts with nearly identical usernames and content styles do remain up.

Inga Trauthig, a research professor studying cybersecurity at Florida State University, says many of the videos repeat specific messages — like the claim that China has the best supply chains —and this raises red flags.

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It would be impossible to tell whether or not these videos are actually being made by real Chinese manufacturers or if they might be part of a Chinese state-run campaign without further research, Trauthig says — especially given the trade war would incentivize both the government and business owners to make videos like this that promote manufacturing within the country.

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Trauthig cautions against ordering from any of these sites, as consumers should be wary of the kind of personal data and credit card information they’d be passing over in doing so.

“One thing we also know from our research in the online space is the political and the economic often overlap,” she said. “So there might be people piggybacking on [the trade war], knowing this is a political trending topic, but they actually are just there to defraud some American consumers.”

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