BLACKSBURG, Va. – If you were watching the Super Bowl Sunday night, you probably noticed a few commercials for a website called Temu.
Temu is an online shopping site that sells items at massive discounts, but some experts are saying the website is not what it seems.
10 News reporter Thomas Mundy talked to a Virginia Tech expert and college students about what you need to know.
“You see it for cheap and we’re college students, we do not want to spend that much money but I think it’s definitely a red flag because it seems too good to be true,” one student said.
On Sunday night, online commerce store Temu ran six advertisements during the Super Bowl, bringing millions of new eyes to the platform.
Donna Wertalik, Virginia Tech Marketing Expert said to be cautious.
“The products look great online when you have marketed them. They are always in feeds on Instagram and Facebook, but when you get them, is it the same quality that you saw online? A lot of times it’s not.” Wertalik said. “Really, really look at information on any platform, what you’re giving, are you on a secure network or a VPN or are you on just a browser that is just collecting?”
Virginia Tech students said that while they saw the ads, they were still skeptical.
“I’ve seen a lot of ads on TikTok throughout the year, I was under the impression it was mostly like a shein type of website, just kind, a little bit of a scam, very cheap items.”
One student said that while did seem to give the company some legitimacy in his eyes, he doesn’t trust the company completely.
“I saw the ad at first and was like ‘Temu? Wasn’t that like the ones on Youtube who were just making those quick videos?’ I thought they were just making cheap Youtube ads trying to get some money in real quick,” said Jobran Hanna, a VT student.
With the way technology continues to evolve rapidly, Wertalik said we’ll continue to see more sites like this. She said people should take an active role in considering what should be shared.