DTI investigates Shopee over BLACKPINK meet-and-greet mess — Lopez

After their successful concert last February, BLACKPINK returned to Manila on June 6 for a meet-and-greet event hosted by the online retailer at SM Aura in Taguig City. (File photo: blackpinkofficial/Instagram)

Online shopping platform Shopee is now being investigated by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), after earning the ire of many netizens due to the problematic meet-and-greet event between South Korean girl group BLACKPINK and its fans, collectively known as “Blinks.”

“Iniimbestigahan namin. Siyempre kailangan i-protect ‘yung mga consumers who participated in the promo. Kailangan maimbestigahan further kung saan nagkamali (We are investigating it. Of course, consumers who participated in the promo must be protected. We need to investigate further to know where it went wrong),” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez told CNN Philippines on Friday, June 7.

After their successful concert last February,  BLACKPINK returned to Manila on June 6 for a meet-and-greet event hosted by the online retailer at SM Aura in Taguig City.

But their Filipino fans took to social media to slam Shopee for allegedly “scamming” them out of a chance to meet their K-pop idols – Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo, and Rosé. Pinoy Blinks claimed that Shopee changed the mechanics to a promo for tickets to the meet-and-greet event a day prior to it. A lot of them said they spent tens of thousands of pesos just to see BLACKPINK but they were unable to.

[READ: #ShopeeScam regarding Blackpink Meet and Greet tickets becomes viral]

Lopez said the DTI is already talking to the online retailer. The result of the investigation could come out in as early as one week.

“Ang mga ganiyang promo, nire-register sa DTI para kung hindi na-deliver, pwedeng balikan ng consumer ang nagbigay ng promo. Either refund ‘yan o may penalty. Inaalam natin ngayon (That kind of promo must be registered with the  DTI so that if they fail to deliver, the consumer can hold them accountable, either through a refund or a penalty. That is what we are looking into),” Lopez explained during the interview.

Shopee has apologized for the incident, admitting that they “fell short of the high standards that users and Blackpink fans expect.”

“Although we took immediate steps as soon as we discovered our errors to ensure the rightful winners of our contest could claim their prizes, we know that the entire process caused confusion, disappointment, and upset for many Shopee users and Blackpink fans,” it said, adding that they are reaching out to those who have been affected by the issue.