“Blinks,” the fandom name of popular Korean pop group Blackpink, have expressed their outrage on social media regarding #ShopeeScam, involving the online shopping platform Shopee allegedly selling fake meet and greet tickets to Filipino fans claiming that if they spend a certain amount on the site, they would be able to attend the event on Thursday, June 6.
The mechanics for the Black Ticket promo were released last May 10, telling shoppers that they would be able to participate if they spend a minimum of P4,000 to qualify as a top spender. The top 40 spenders supposedly would receive autographs from the group. The mechanics initially stated, “For orders to be counted to the buyer’s total accumulated purchases, orders must be placed from May 11-25 and must be received and completed by June 1, 2019,” but according to a few participants, was changed a day prior with the fine print claiming that the orders must be received and completed by May 25 at 11:59 pm instead.
As a result of this, some fans ended up spending a fortune and discovering that as prestigious tickets as others who spent less, some even having their tickets revoked due to Shopee claiming a “system error.”
As a response to the issue, Shopee sent out a statement admitting they “fell short of the high standards that users and Blackpink fans expect,” sharing, “All of us at Shopee would like to sincerely apologize to users and fans of Shopee and Blackpink for the issues involving the Shopee x Blackpink meet-and-greet today in Manila. 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.” They add, “We are reaching out to all those affected by this issue, and we are also taking steps to ensure that such an incident does not occur again in the future.”