Temu more bloody Chinese spyware the catch in cheap online shopping. [Video]

Temu – the cheap Chinese shopping site taking Australia by storm – has been revealed as a thinly disguised, likely state-sponsored data harvester.

Dr Arathi Arakala, program manager of the Masters in Cyber Security program at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) University, found that Temu is a cybersecurity risk that ‘hoovers up’ consumer data from its website, app, and social media.

“TEMU’s privacy and cookie policy states the type of data it collects includes user data essential for its service such as address, phone number and payment details. However, it also may collect other information that can be extracted through our profiles, such as photographs, interests, shopping history, links to profiles on social networks, and government-issued identification. Additionally, TEMU explicitly states their business partners may capture information about us, our computer or device, and our location. As consumers, we must be aware of what data we intentionally agree to share …