As TikTok Shop continues its meteoric rise, brands and consumers struggle to keep up. The platform’s shopping channel launched in the US in September 2023, entering the social ecommerce scene as an instant powerhouse. US spending on TikTok Shop now surpasses large competitors like Shein and Temu, cementing its place as a significant player. The platform reported 100 million in sales on Black Friday alone according to Reuters, and the growth shows no signs of slowing. Last year saw around 17.5 billion U.S. commerce on TikTok, as its shop fundamentally reshapes the ways that consumers discover and purchase products online.
However, this rapid growth comes with significant risks for brands. From counterfeit products and fake listings to CEO impersonations and ad scams, TikTok Shop’s fast-paced environment has become a breeding ground for fraudulent activity. In this blog post, we’ll explore the risks brands face on TikTok Shop, the types of scams proliferating on the platform, and actionable steps to protect your brand and consumers.
What Is TikTok Shop?
TikTok Shop is a social commerce platform that allows users to discover and purchase products directly within the TikTok app. It quickly gained traction in the U.S. since its launch, with over 500,000 merchants at the end of 2023, as Bloomberg reporting shows. The platform thrives on influencer marketing, content-driven trends, and seamless integrations, making it a go-to destination for younger consumers. In fact, 44% of TikTok users make purchases directly on the platform, a far higher percentage than other social media channels in the United States.
Of course, TikTok Shop also thrives in other markets beyond the US. UK consumers accessed the in-app shopping options as early as 2023, before the app debuted to the EU market by expanding into Ireland. TikTok Shop then grew again, rolling out to the Spanish market and planting the seeds for further expansion across mainland Europe. They recently announced plans to setup shop in Germany, but the official launch date remains unclear. Meanwhile, TikTok is already posting commerce-related job openings in Amsterdam, Paris, and Milan—three markets where it has yet to launch— suggesting that their growth roadmap extends across the continent.
This growth makes it hard for brands and brand managers to keep pace. TikTok Shop unleashes millions of shoppers in some markets and not others, using a variety of partnerships that in a network that evolves and meanders with alarming frequency. Such dynamism and flux makes it hard to detect scams and infringements involving your brand, let along take them down.
The Risks of TikTok Shop: Scams Targeting Brands and Consumers
TikTok shop’s rapid growth often outpaces the platform’s ability to regulate fraudulent activity effectively. The pace and recency also limits any long-term research around scams and brand risks on the platform. That being said, recent testimonies and reports highlight several alarming trends.
Counterfeit Products and Fake Listings
Counterfeit goods present one of the most pervasive issues on TikTok Shop. Scammers leverage established brand reputations to sell fake products, often at lower prices than the retail value. Crucially, counterfeit products skirt around health codes, worker rights, and environmental regulations, dealing untold harm around the world. The lack of health regulations proves particularly dangerous in the wellness, and beauty sectors, where counterfeit consumables like vitamin pills and perfumes pose serious risks. According to Forbes, 81% of TikTok Shop sales in the U.S. are in the beauty and health categories, placing toxic counterfeits in close proximity to the bodies of consumers.
CEO Impersonation Scams
AI-generated deepfakes and impersonations are on the rise, with scammers using fake videos of CEOs and brand representatives to deceive consumers. In one heartbreaking case, a couple lost their life savings—tens of thousands of dollars—after falling victim to a TikTok Shop scam involving endorsements from a fraudulent reseller. Such scams not only harm consumers but also damage brand reputations. You can also find out more about impersonation scams and the power of facial recognition on social media in our dedicated guide.
Ad Scams and Fake Social Media Networks
Scammers create entire networks of fake social media accounts and ads to impersonate brands and siphon off their e-commerce base. These fake ads prove particularly devastating during high-traffic shopping events like Black Friday, where consumers often make impulsive purchases.
How Brands Protect Themselves on TikTok Shop
Protecting your brand on TikTok Shop requires a proactive and multi-faceted approach. Here, we’ve listed three common strategies that brands can use for themselves to protect consumers and ecommerce revenues.
Monitoring and Searching for Infringements
Brands should actively search TikTok Shop for counterfeit listings, misleading ads, and unauthorized use of their intellectual property. While manual monitoring remains an option, it requires significant time and resources. Scammers frequently adapt their tactics, making it essential for brands to conduct regular searches and stay vigilant against emerging threats.
Submitting Takedown Requests
When brands identify infringements, they should submit takedown requests directly to TikTok. However, the platform’s enforcement process can be slow due to the high volume of content, users, and transactions. Brands must implement persistent monitoring and swift reporting to minimize brand damage. Delays allow counterfeiters to continue selling unauthorized products, threatening consumers and slashing ecommerce revenue.
Leveraging Online Brand Protection Solutions
To enhance enforcement efforts and remove the strain of manual detections and enforcement from their own teams, brands also rely on Online Brand Protection. These solutions automate your detection tools to identify and track fraudulent listings. Effective Online Brand Protection ensures swift action across TikTok Shop and other digital platforms. By leveraging scalable enforcement solutions, brands efficiently remove unauthorized sellers, protect consumer trust, and deter future infringements.
As TikTok Shop expands into new markets, brands need to strengthen their online protection strategies to address the emerging risks. Counterfeit listings, misleading ads, and unauthorized sellers can quickly damage brand reputation and deceive consumers. However, effective brand protection goes beyond monitoring and enforcing your infringements on TikTok Shop alone.
Next: TikTok Shop and Your Online Brand Protection Strategy
A comprehensive strategy must cover a wide range of digital threats across the digital landscape. With EBRAND’s Argos platform, for example, you’ll unlock detections and takedown actions across TikTok Shop, Instagram, and Facebook. You’ll also get a handle on counterfeit sales on ecommerce marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and AliExpress.
Counterfeits and infringement scams also proliferate across fake shops and online marketplaces, so your brands need insights and actions there too. Argos lets you monitor fraudulent shopping websites impersonating official stores, along with unauthorized mobile apps on the App Store and Google Play, and even video-based scams on YouTube. With a multi-channel approach, brands proactively detect and enforce against threats wherever they appear, ensuring consistent protection across the entire digital landscape.
Final Thoughts
TikTok Shop offers immense opportunities for brands to connect with consumers, but it also presents significant risks. By staying vigilant and leveraging the right tools, you can protect your brand and consumers from scams and infringements.
Want to know if your brand is being targeted on TikTok Shop? Get a free brand audit today and take the first step toward safeguarding your reputation.
