Fad or scam: Can we chase trends while avoiding being scammed?

For as long as I can remember, I was obsessed with every beauty trend that happened over the past decade. I remember obsessing over Kylie Jenner’s lip kits, and despite being a broke student then, I knew I needed to get my hands on one of those lip kits.

My 15-year-old self got lucky and found a website that sold the popular kits and at its original price! With the last of my monthly allowance, I checked out and handed over my debit card details. However, that was also the story of the first time I got scammed from shopping online - the money went through, but the goods never arrived.

One of the latest trends to hit our shores is Korean beauty brand Fwee Cosmetics’ lip and cheek pots which have been flying off the shelves in retail stores and online shops.

Now that I am armed with better knowledge on how to safely navigate online, I am putting myself to the challenge of shopping for Fwee Cosmetics’ lip and cheek pots on six different online platforms and comparing them with guidelines to see if they protect us consumers from being scammed.

Shopee

My first attempt to find it was using Shopee, the online shopping app that topped e-commerce safety rankings in 2024. Through its Shopee Mall function, I managed to find a shop named Fwee Official Store where I decided to make my purchase.

Chua Kel Jin, Director of Shopee Singapore, shares that products under Shopee Mall are sourced from authorised retailers and brands, who ensures 100 per cent authenticity. Shopee promises a 15-day free return policy and a guarantee of the item reaching my doorstep within a week. I could also safely make payment through the platform as they have a secure system tied to it via Shopeepay or payment by card within the official app.

Lazada

While I tried searching for Fwee's official listing on Lazada, I could not find an official shop. Instead, I stumbled upon plenty of other shops “based in South Korea” that could help me get Fwee Cosmetics‘ product, at prices closer to the original price.

Like Shopee, I could return the product within 15-days and check out the responsiveness and timeliness of the seller. The seller I bought from had a track record of 100 per cent of orders being shipped in time, so all that’s left for me is to cart out my purchases with the in-app secure payment options.

Pupsik.sg

Unlike the above platforms, Pupsik.sg is a local blogshop that specialises in bringing in popular makeup from overseas. Similarly, the shop promised 30 days of free returns and free next day delivery.

There were secure payment options on the website, and carting the item would lead me to a secured third-party payment provider which allowed me to pay by card.

Amazon Marketplace

Surprisingly, I found an official shop on the Amazon Marketplace and it ships directly from Seoul, South Korea to Singapore.

Like Shopee and Lazada, I can see the estimated date that the product reaches my doorstep, plus I could also see global reviews from other buyers. Even though the website was not based in Singapore, I was still able to pay within the website through its secured payment modes.

Carousell

This platform works slightly different to the others mentioned as it gives a flexibility for you to sell to other like-minded buyers. As there are no official Fwee shops on the platform, I got the lip pot from other users who happened to be selling extra stock of the product. A handy feature of Carousell, is the ‘Buy’ button which allows me to make payment in-app and check on how the seller will deliver the goods to me.

However, not every listing will have the ‘Buy’ button, especially when it’s a listing that says they are ‘helping-to-buy’ and need payment first. While Buyer Protection serves as a tool to protect users of the app, we as buyers still must remain vigilant as scammers have created fake versions of it to send phishing links to scam users.

In this instance, my order with a seller from Carousell fell through as the seller was inactive during our interaction. Luckily, the item was purchased with the 'Buy' button and I was able to receive the full refund from Carousell without having to chase the seller on my own.

TikTok Shop

Similar to Lazada, there is no official shop but plenty of other shops based in South Korea who sell it close to original prices. You can check out the 24-hour response rate and percentage of orders shipped on time for each shop to make your decision on who to buy from. Free returns are available within six days, and orders are cancellable.

There are also secure payment options in-app, where I could pay by a linked credit card or through GrabPay in the TikTok app.

According to MHA's TSR, e-commerce sites should put these measures in place:

Making sure they check user authenticity
Keeping a high level of transaction safety
Having a smooth loss remediation experience for consumers
And they will also be evaluated on effectiveness of Anti-scam efforts

These ratings are put in place to make sure that e-commerce scams can be avoided. Shopee’s Chua demonstrated that once the company started to work towards earning the four ticks of the TSR, the platform recorded a 65 per cent decrease in reported scams between 2022 and 2023.

And while platforms continue to battle scams, each day new methods of scams can still randomly pop up. Recently, a rise of phishing scams has been reported – where fake links to platforms that look like Shopee or Lazada turned out to be fake websites that will end up in you losing more than what you paid for. Scammers also tend to get victims to download apps through links or from websites, to order the product/service or facilitate a refund. These are tactics leading victims to downloading malicious app to steal banking and personal details.

Even with such strict ratings given to online platforms, the most important way to avoid being scammed is for us to be vigilant and spot the signs, especially the website’s URL if using an online site, before we cart out our items.

At the end of my experiment, I managed to receive five out of six packages from the various online platforms I placed my orders with. Even as one of the package failed to arrive, I was promptly compensated with a full refund thanks to the protection policies of the platform.

While all listings presented themselves to look authentic and legit, some required extra scrutiny and even research to proof that it was a legit listing to start with. And while I can finally have a peace of mind and flex these new shades – it’s only after learning about TSR’s tips for safe online shopping that I can chill while waiting for my next haul to arrive.