HELLO FRIENDS!! today, we investigated a mysterious dress that has been advertised all over my tiktok for you page.... and then bought that same dress from 4 different companies for $4, $30, $60, & $200 to see what the actual *heck* is going on here, batman… 🕵🏻♀have you guys seen any fishy tiktok ads before? what should we look into next? xoxo, saf
This has become a a HUGE problem. I don’t make clothing, but I am an amateur silversmith. Even at my level, I’ve had photos of my jewelry stolen and used on some sketchy sites. I work very hard on my pieces and spend hours on photography alone. It makes me extremely angry knowing my hard work is being used to scam people out of their hard earned money, and it makes people less inclined to purchase genuine artisan items.
@@cb9825 They don't care about watermarks. They'll either crop it out, blur it, or just leave it in and know nothing will be enforced. Simply Nailogical investigated her photos and videos being stolen way back in 2019 or so. I'm sure it's even more prevalent now that the Holo Taco business is larger too.
@@cb9825 It's very easy to take watermarks off if they're not splashed all over the image, and even if it's all over the image, if you're good with photoshop, you can still take them off. It's a big problem in the art community with reposters posting art online without credit & erasing the watermarks.
@@cb9825I was gonna ask the same - if people have business nowadays especially selling products, I wouldn’t go without watermark on every photo. Stealing is unfortunately normal especially with fast fashion sites…
A few years ago I repented to God then begged for help, "I was until then an Atheist." I then had a dream of Jesus coming before God and he spoke of the Tabernacle in perfect context, "A word I didn't know existed.", and what I felt from Jesus when I held him was unlike anything I've ever felt before - A lifetime of Love every second - It brought me to sobbing and it changed my life, forever. I've had Many experiences since, "Several witnessed", one was seeing a bright orb of light pass across my face in the dark, hours before a major surgery the second I gave up in my heart. Know that God and Jesus ARE real and that they Love us deeply. Let go of your hatred and Imagine yourself holding the people who've hurt you. Tell them you Love them. Always have hope, I believe that prayer, following God's laws & Love is the answer, and through that, Truly becoming humble, merciful, welcoming, giving, gentle, respectful, compassionate, patient, kind and forgiving, To All.
I bought it a couple days ago before seeing this vid and now I’m worried abt what I’ll be getting. Honestly I deserve it for not doing more research Editing this to say it was unwearable garbage
Right like why are they allowing ads for scams on their platforms? Shouldn't they be doing work to see whther they actually want to partner with these companies?
i don’t think we’re talking enough about safiya’s deep dive and research she did for this video like it’s so impressive how wonderfully she did with proper information and facts. you can tell that she has an incredible mind and is so smart.
Right? I would have looked at all of these websites advertising the exact same thing the exact same way and gotten so overwhelmed and not known whete to start, but Saf seems to be really good at cutting through the overwhelming amount of information.
Wellno, she doesn't have the faintest idea what she is talking about! She just keeps parroting the copyright monopoly industries brainwashing and lies, pretending that copying is stealing! Copying is NOT stealing! If it wasn't for copying human culture won't even exist! By railing against copying she is railing against our culture! Safiya wans our culture to NOT exist! She wants a handful of giant corporations to own all human culture! She's a piece of capitalist garbage
i'm actually extremely grateful that thanks to safiya I have a new website of dresses to drool over while i save up enough cash to actually buy anything HAHA
We, the collective, appreciate you spending over 400 USD and 6 months buying and investigating dresses that are the farthest thing from your own aesthetic
The biggest problem is that real-deal small designer shops that create their original products probably suffer because all the copycat fake ads overshadow them.
The biggest problem is that tiktok and instagram (meta) benefit from these scams and won't do anything about it. And no government is even considering holding them accountable for anything.
They absolutely do :C For example, etsy used to be all about small-business, independent, homemade artisan goods. Now it's just another outlet for drop shippers selling the same thing from a Chinese warehouse. You can still find the real artists for sure, but they are drowned out, or just plain hard to find due to etsy's SEO model prioritizing the spam-like quality of the drop-shipper listings.
@@hiddenmutant I haven't been using Etsy as much, but have definitely noticed this more. It's truly disheartening to see, especially when the knock-offs and imitations are sososo bad for the environment, too! We will all pay for cutting costs and fast fashion when our atmosphere is no longer inhabitable, which could end up happening in the next century and is why the wealthy guys are investing so much into space travel... everyone suffers when capitalists and big corporations only care about one thing. Sad, because they won't be able to take their money to the grave with them. And the average person doesn't understand the value of a handmade product or art anymore, because of websites like Temu showing them a similar product for 20 cents! I'm frugal but I absolutely refuse to save money by supporting the hot garbage they try selling with the use of extreme exploitation and reduced quality. I've always been really cheap, but I've been leaning more towards either buying things used, or making sure that what I buy is ethically sourced and produced, at least when it comes to things like clothing/furniture etc. Still working on groceries.
Safiya should get into more investigative journalism like this. She’s a great presenter, and there’s so much material to work with in the fashion/beauty world.
She used to do work for BuzzFeed but I think she enjoys freelancing/doing her own content because she can choose what topics to cover (and she probably makes more money too haha)
I love how she's actually doing and showing us all the investigation process behind, and not only buying and compering the dresses. that's actually the best way to do a reveiw in my opinion
right! The way she cites her sources and incorporates her own critical thinking, she is amazing. I'd love to read her papers that she writes for these videos too! 🧡
It’s actually so intriguing cause I would love to do this kind of investigating myself if it wasn’t so much effort and it’s cool to see it be done fully without me having to do it
A few years ago I repented to God then begged for help, "I was until then an Atheist." I then had a dream of Jesus coming before God and he spoke of the Tabernacle in perfect context, "A word I didn't know existed.", and what I felt from Jesus when I held him was unlike anything I've ever felt before - A lifetime of Love every second - It brought me to sobbing and it changed my life, forever. I've had Many experiences since, "Several witnessed", one was seeing a bright orb of light pass across my face in the dark, hours before a major surgery the second I gave up in my heart. Know that God and Jesus ARE real and that they Love us deeply. Let go of your hatred and Imagine yourself holding the people who've hurt you. Tell them you Love them. Always have hope, I believe that prayer, following God's laws & Love is the answer, and through that, Truly becoming humble, merciful, welcoming, giving, gentle, respectful, compassionate, patient, kind and forgiving, To All.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting an actual corset but I was expecting at least a fake one, like a few stuck on straps in a crisscross pattern or whatever. But they didn't even try to do that. 😅
Well also keep in mind that but also even though AliExpress was still lying about the product that listing at least made sure to edit out the corset. Also, yeah I'm sure it's not OVERTLY hard to add a couple straps in a criss cross pattern that's f'ed up
I was BOMBARDED with these ads after I found interest in the dress and simply clicked on one of the scams websites. I AM SO HAPPY I DIDN"T BUY IT. It screamed fash fashion all over, it just boils my blood cause not everyone thinks it through before buying. Glad you promoted/exposed the real dress so that those who can afford it can get the quality dress they deserve.
I just discovered her. I'm going to ask someone that may have more knowledge than myself. I'm looking for boxers. Do you have a place you order or would order from? I do orders for elderly people so I check everything. Before I order. But I see lots of ads for boxers(it's for a woman but I do wear men's as well). Excuse me for asking
Safiya doing investigate work is what she should focus on more. I like Jenny Nicholson the most too when she is investigating something like the park video.
this is a great educational video, but it is very different than investigative journalism! investigative journalists go through multiple rounds of editing and fact checking. for example, the wall street journal’s most recent investigative story on how instagram and meta are pushing harmful content. not trying to be a downer, but just trying to educate on the amazing work journalists still do.
There needs to be more punishment for online fraud. A lot of these just want your card information to further steal from you and they never get in trouble for it
the problem is most of these companies are from China. China doesn't give two shits about fraud and copyright, even less if the US is complaining about it. They literally ripped off so many famous things and they got off scot free.
Thank you for highlighting this Safiya! I felt so bad this summer for everyone who was buying dresses off of videos using my stolen videos. The more people that know about it the better!
sorry im not on these platforms, does Tik Tok or Instagram not consider your videos as intellectual property? I know RUclips cracks down content stealing or unauthorized usage.
I hope you get loads of followers off this! 💜 Have you ever done a tour of your bookshelf? I see a few books and series I recognize but lots more that I don't!
@@chenisejenkins1786i’m not 100% certain but i think tiktok has it in their terms and conditions that once a video is posted that video is basically no longer the creator’s (i.e. it can be used and the creator doesn’t have to be paid nor can fight it because they agreed to the t&c)
@@chenisejenkins1786they don’t care because they didn’t post it. It’s probably in the terms no one reads, so they’ll use it as a “well we trusted them not to do illegal things” but meanwhile benefiting from ad revenue.
I’m glad Safiya did this video. I feel like she has a good chance of reaching people who might otherwise get scammed without information like this. Thanks for helping the fans, Saf!
A few years ago I repented to God then begged for help, "I was until then an Atheist." I then had a dream of Jesus coming before God and he spoke of the Tabernacle in perfect context, "A word I didn't know existed.", and what I felt from Jesus when I held him was unlike anything I've ever felt before - A lifetime of Love every second - It brought me to sobbing and it changed my life, forever. I've had Many experiences since, "Several witnessed", one was seeing a bright orb of light pass across my face in the dark, hours before a major surgery the second I gave up in my heart. Know that God and Jesus ARE real and that they Love us deeply. Let go of your hatred and Imagine yourself holding the people who've hurt you. Tell them you Love them. Always have hope, I believe that prayer, following God's laws & Love is the answer, and through that, Truly becoming humble, merciful, welcoming, giving, gentle, respectful, compassionate, patient, kind and forgiving, To All.
Honestly, I'll be using this video in a lesson for my high school students to teach them about scamming and its dangers. Safiya's videos and Cristine's podcast "simplypodlogical" can be used nicely to educate my students since they speak clearly, informed, and talk about topics that are very relevant to them.
Istg, Safiya is the ONLY creator I’ll watch who makes a “$10 vs $100” type video. I see them a lot from clickbait accounts who are obviously faking scenarios and trying to flex their wealth, and the way Saf goes into these concepts with skepticism and investigates the underlying problems is a breath of fresh air. Keep it up💕
When I first clicked on the video, I thought it was going to be a dress try-on video, and that's it. However, the amount of dedication Saf put into the research and presenting it so clearly in the video is extremely commendable
One reason I love your videos is you don't just say I bought a dress from 4 sites, you actually do it deep dive into how you did it, why and what the impact can be. Thank you for the time, effort and energy you put into your videos and going as far as to find the people featured in the fake ads who had their legitimate content stolen. You don't just make quick win videos, you put the effort in to make something worth watching
We need laws to financially punish these online scammers! Can there be a fairness doctrine for business/commerce? But thank you for shouting out the original creator and the models.
This is actually such a good look over of this weird "copy product" phenomena and online "dupe" scamming that is so prevalent on the internet. Like it genuinely boggles my mind that you found THAT MANY COPIES.
As if it's something new, China has been pirating expensive/popular products since forever. I remember several kids in my school had pirated shoes from famous brands
Bernadette Banner did a great breakdown of a scammer who stole her dress design. This was a few years ago- but the scammers just keep spawning in the TikTok swamp.
how could the things that people say made the universe get here is there was nothing God made it all so many prophecies are being filled from revelations telling us that Jesus is coming back they are happing right now in the world he loves and cares😊
@@elliot_rat how could the things that people say made the universe get here is there was nothing God made it all so many prophecies are being filled from revelations telling us that Jesus is coming back they are happing right now in the world he loves and cares😊
@@Maob08 how could the things that people say made the universe get here is there was nothing God made it all so many prophecies are being filled from revelations telling us that Jesus is coming back they are happing right now in the world he loves and cares😊
i love shein reviews bc you can tell either the moment they got the dress or directly at the end of them using it they quickly take a picture, and none of them are professional.
As someone who sews it's been infuriating to see both the quality of fabric and the quality of clothing go downhill so far and so fast. People really don't understand how much work it is to make these dresses and how painful it is to have your hard work stolen - both as a designer and an model. Thanks for doing this dive.
I found an online store that custom makes each item of clothing before they send it to you. I bought two coats which fit perfectly and had gorgeous, thick, beautiful , high quality wool blend fabric , one in dark green, the other in a rich wine color. You just send them your measurements, height, weight, body shape (apple, pear etc). They will last for years.
I began my sewing journey making aprons, baby quilts, curtains, etc. The closest I came to clothes was the occasional costume and some basic tailoring to get something to fit right. This was pre-online shopping and I lived in jeans and tee shirts, so quality was pretty much the same across the board. As my style started to evolve and I was buying more clothes and fast fashion really started taking hold, I watched the quality of workmanship and fabrics (read: cheap AF synthetics) get worse and worse. So, now I sew a LOT of my own clothing (admittedly, this is also due, in part, to the fact that I wear 40s/50s styles, but you can buy reproductions and those can be from the same fast fashion manufacturers and just as bad). The time and effort alone is indicative that nothing should be selling as cheap as most clothing sells for
@@rachelferet3941You sound like a woman after my own heart! I'm trying to pick up some better sewing skills (made myself some PJ pants and do basic alterations) but I've worn and collected vintage for 25 years and the quality drop even since the '90s is ASTOUNDING! Part of the reason I buy vintage is that it's just made better. Even if I have to restitch a brittle seam, or have new heels put on shoes, they're overall made to last much longer than the disposable clothing now.
@@madamedex5989 I think it says a lot that I've got some handmade dresses from the 50s that are holding up better than most modern RTW. I can't really speak too much on the quality of clothing purchased new in the '90s because I was thrifting then on account of being poor 😂 But I can say that all of my clothes, new or thrifted, would be held on to for years before getting getting misshapen or a seam coming out whereas now, half the stuff new, still on the rack has loose threads, etc.
@@rachelferet3941 Exactly! I have dresses from the early-mid '60s that were very inexpensive "junior modes" you would've found at Sears or Penney's and they are better constructed than most Ralph Lauren, J. Crew, and the like now. One thing I remember fondly from the '90s, and even early 2000s was how you could find natural fabrics even at lower and mid-tier levels. VS had tons of real silk nighties that would go on clearance, Target carried linen, silk, and wool items. Now everything, short of seasonal "luxury" offers is poly/rayon/nylon. I can only imagine what it's doing to the environment.
I know most of the time we flock to these videos to see "What I paid for vs what I got" funny dress dupes, but this whole video is legitimately an in depth and thorough piece of investigative journalism. Delving to the reality of these scam sites, while also educating people on how to avoid these scams and on the ethics of using creators content unconsentually in ads. Stellar STELLAR job Safiya and Team, this was so well done.
Holy shit this goes deep! I have seen so many dupes of other clothing, and the one that really made it start to bother me was when other sites like Modakawa started ripping off the design of an original clothing designer local to me (Melanoir). She is extremely frustrated that these companies blatantly steal her designs and sell them for way cheaper, which takes away from her business. I'd love to see more content like this, excellent work!!
when I was working at Nordstrom I’d often have people who were shocked/angry at the price of House of CB items, because they see ostensibly same items for soooo much less. it’s ruining people’s conception of clothing production and expectations
This is a different line of work but I work in a pet supply store and we are a small business trying to bring only the best of pet food products to the consumer, such as no additives and reputable sources for (dried) meats. It makes it so a bag of for example beef skin chewy bones costs quite a bit more than the supermarket or heaven forbid: the dollar store, since we only use reputable sources of producers. People often come in asking for the best food/snacks for their pets, but then scoff at the price and say "But I can get this at the dollar store for X amount less!" Yeah but that also comes with additives and significantly lower quality of food.. people truly will pay less for an inferior product just to save money, instead of thinking about the quality.
@@mr_selfdestruct I wish I could go to this store you're talking about. I have a dog with allergies to very common ingredients (peas, brewer's yeast, and 15 (yes, actually 15!) other food-related ingredients. It is SO HARD trying to find food or treats or good chews. I've had to change his food three times because the brands keep getting discontinued. It sounds like I might be able to find stuff for him at your store~
@@mistingwolftry looking for raw pet food suppliers in your local area. The ingredients list is very short: human grade muscle and organ meat, ground bones or bone meal and some supplements such as omega3 oil. Though not cheap, I find the price comparable to the higher end canned food.
House of CB doesnt need the boost, they're plenty famous already. Plus I always see a lot of comments about their customer and returns service being... not the best. The dresses are gorgeous but it always makes me wary or buying.
@@zenbdgI know about HouseOfCB, but I never knew they sold the original of this style of dress. I have had these Ads for months and really liked the dress but didn’t want to support an unknown fast fashion shopify site. This video is solely the reason I discovered that this dress is originally from HouseOfCB and I will be driven to make a sale because of this
These dress ads overtook my insta feed as well around May 2023. It just wouldn't stop, and I always wondered which would be ok to purchase. Thank you for investigating this and giving me some closure :P
So while the cheap ones are probably some polyester/ poly blend that could melt, the real one likely has a solid amount of natural fibers and would burn instead (the burn test is a legitimate way to figure out fiber content of unknown fabrics)
I bought the ACTUAL House of CB blue and white floral printed corset dress at the start of the year for the full big price. I love it and the quality is amazing but after I bought the dress, I started getting all the ads for the cheap knock off versions. Once I saw the ad for the same dress at $4, I started freaking out thinking House of CB actually scammed me and sold me an AliExpress dress which I could’ve purchased much cheaper. Seeing this video made me feel much better that I bought the real thing.
It is pretty obvious that the $4 dress is the scam here. The House of CB dress has so much craftsmanship and thought to the design put into it to make the lace-up corset work.
I completely agree with you. I own several pieces from House of CB and I must say, the quality justifies the price. No other “brands”, including Ali, can replicate such amazing products. The level of craftsmanship is truly exceptional.
I didn't know about the House of CB brand until I watched this video, but brand names are easy to search up. If you search a brand name up sometimes you might see this panel that tells you about what the company offers, when it was founded and who it was founded by. If you are seeing it chances are it's most likely legit. Besides, you already felt that the quality is good, high quality garments don't come cheap!
I don't know a lot about US business law, but this sounds like you gathered a lot a evidence to get a lot of companies in trouble for stealing people's likenesses. Good work Saf!
I mean, what companies. I think the way they operate is to be untraceable or at least unpunishable by laws of countries in which they operate. They appear, disappear, cancel websites, create new ones. It's just tons of anonymous shell companies.
The amount of research, time and effort you put into your videos is just the best. I adore your videos because they're so thorough and informative and it's like a RUclips video mixed with a documentary and it's just great!
the only thing i didnt like was she did not verify the legitimacy of the steve madden ad. ive seen scam websites try to imitate companies as well through facebook ads. (i dont use tiktok that often)
I have drifted away from Safiya's content in yhe past fre years, but this is a reminder of WHY she deserves and needed her own channel and platform. Nothing ever done halfway, and actually quite thoughtful and serious about seemingly fun and frivolous topics.
Same! At some point all I seemed to see were those three hour live videos of doing very random stuff and those really just weren’t for me. But this is really amazing and impressive!
i used to work for House of CB online customer service and THE AMOUNT of people who would accidentally buy from scam websites and then message us complaining they never received their orders was INSANE
That. How. Why buy from a completely different cheap website only to complain to a- why, how can people be so dumb. I’m sorry fellow Safiya Enjoyer. You didn’t deserve to be used as a stress toy for those people
It seems you never saw how these scammers operate. They create almost identical and very well done websites as the real one and that’s how people think is the real company. These scammers are becoming better and better it’s their full time job.
I can understand how this would happen at one point when you searched House of CB there are sponsored scam websites that pop up at the top of the page that have sites that are only off by a letter or so. I've fallen for it too however I always quickly notice something is off because I've shopped on the House of CB website before and I'm familiar with their pricing. They do not sell dresses for $80.
It's not a US based company, so unfortunately there's nothing anyone here can do about it. And tiktok won't stop because they're just getting richer and richer off of all these sponsored ads.
@@buxomboba but it is at very high risk of being banned in the US which would negatively effect its profit. So you'd think they'd be extra cautious to do their due diligence because I guarantee if any of the anti-China MAGA reps get told about this vid, it will absolutely be used as fuel to their TT ban crusade.
PLEASE PLEASE keep covering this whole tiktok dropshipping store scam stuff, you're the only person i've seen cover it and i think more people should be aware of it!!
The fact that the whole POINT of this dress is the corseted back and none of the dupes have it is INSANE. Honestly I love this kind of video wayyy more than the "I melted every x together" videos, this was super well-researched and presented!
I'm kinda surprised the knockoffs didn't even make a feeble attempt to make a lace-up back or front with three sets of loops instead of a dozen! What they sent looks like cheap nightgowns.
@@alil4586 She seems plenty grateful to me. Nothing wrong with encouraging a youtuber to do more of this sort of investigative reporting, by saying they like it better than some other earlier type of work.
As a seamstress I’ve been seeing variations of this dress for like a year now and I had no idea what was the original dress BUT I knew it had to cost at least 150 bucks. All the videos show that the dress has a pretty decent construction, it has cups on the top, an added corset on the back, an invisible zipper, pockets. The material seems to be a printed lightweighted cotton. There is no way that this, properly made, is a cheap dress so is nice to finally see the comparison😊 and reveal how extensive this scams can go
I believe its the carmen dress from House of CB. They have the dress in different lengths on top of different colors. In my opinion anytime I see a dress like this is immediately makes me think of this company because they do it so well
cool to hear the perspective from someone like you who sews! i dont know anything about seamstressing(?) but i can imagine how all those added elements add a ton of labor, esp the corset part i'm sure must be very finicky to do right, which relates to how all the cheap versions saf bought were corsetless
honestly watching these videos is super comforting because safiya has a similar body type to me and she looks beautiful in everything she wears, so it makes me feel beautiful by proxy.
I used to be against spending a lot of money on clothes but this video showed me that it's better to support the original designers because they put a lot of thought and effort into their garments while those that steal ideas don't care about the original designers or the customers. Thanks Safiya.
I thought that way too before my aunt introduced me to some designer brands she liked (NOTE: Not high fashion) and I never wanted to deal with fast fashion again. I now save up for my clothes, patch them and take care of them a million times more than my old fast fashion clothes
As a high school teacher who recently commenced a module about online scams and disinformation, I’m considering recommending this video to my students. ☺️👌🏼
yes, that is part of it. But it teaches a lot more. What to look out for, how easy it is to make fake accounts, reviews, and ads. It will help the next generation understand some of the environmental consequences to fast Fashion and ordering online. @@conan4real
@@conan4real if that's all you took from this then you failed to understand the point of this video. It's about scam marketing, doctored and stolen content, lack of regulation and privacy laws to protect your content posted on the internet. The structure behind scam websites (likely one or very few suppliers who will produce items for a variety of websites. However it's more or less the same item just marketed at different prices)
Excellent 👍🏻 During the pandemic I bought a bunch of dresses “on sale” from an Irish online boutique- I didn’t have much money but the owner was a woman and I thought I was supporting a female entrepreneur, but when the dresses arrived they were low quality, then a few weeks later I saw the same dresses on SHEIN for a fraction of the price, well below the “sale” price 😕 I reckon she found the dresses on SHEIN and then just marketed the same items really well , I have checked out of any hope of conscious consumerism because all retailers are there to make a profit from me, and all the workers are abroad, Temu and SHEIN might be profiting less. The only time I feel confident of being an ethical and wise consumer is at thrift shops 🛍️
They 100% do this. I've seen Instagram adds for crystal wind chimes selling for $80 and shein has them for $10. Exact same product. They obviously just source it from shein
Im an advertising major and this is one of the things that is so huge and nobody knows about. ITS SO CRAZY! The rabbit hole is so big and I THE AMOUNT OF TIMES I tell people and they gasp. So glad Saf is doing this with a bigger platform than I would ever have. She explained it amazingly and better than I could’ve. I can’t wait to find out more about this world and how to really stop ir avoid this scam in my own lifetime.
@@enamis1 Honestly, same. I worked in marketing but it's so shallow, I'll never go back. It's all about fooling people into buying whatever you're selling, doesn't matter if it's a good product/service or not.
The rabbit hole is going to get even deeper with deep fakes. @footdocdana here on RUclips found out a company made an AI version of her to promote their products....
No fr! I don't even study advertising or anything but like why is it such a pain to find a cute dress? Why are these people's videos stolen to promote a scam? It's so frustrating.
Yup, this is the kind of investigative journalism content I originally signed up for and I'm so glad Safiya's getting back to it! Love her other stuff too but this is where Safiya really makes a difference IMO!
agreed. i noticed the algorithm didn’t grab this one as much as it normally does for her videos. only got suggested to me once and then i had to go track it down myself when i didn’t click it originally. hopefully it still does well. i think this is important to share.
Me too. I've been skipping videos lately, because I'm just not interested in watching another video about mixing 50 lipsticks together or whatever. No offense to anyone intended, btw. People like different kinds of content and that's fine. But this is the kind of video, that made me personally subscribe to Safiya and I was really excited, when it popped up im my subscription feed.
I love how much effort you put into this! It is incredibly fascinating to see how much you've been able to find out about all the ads and videos ^^ Thank you for showing us what to look out for!
I can not imagine the amount of time and research you spent cracking down on these scam websites. My sister bought this same dress off Amazon, and she was dissatisfied by the cheap fabric...now we know. It's definitely buyer beware online and scammers are getting smarter and smarter. Thank you so much for your public service broadcast and keeping us informed! You rock!
I'd have been surprised to but I do recall she and Mark have a few mutual friends at least. Both her and Mark are good buddies with both Rosanna and MatPat. Mark, Rosanna, and Saf all have been a part of MatPat's Christmas charity streams so it is extremely likely they either know each other personally or at least can be connected by mutual friends if she need to ask him something.
You gotta hand it to Safiya's research and journalistic abilities. I never knew something like this is happening on TikTok (then again, I don't use TikTok in the first place.) Love your classic impulse buying content Safiya!
I am not a hardcore safiya content consumer, but I always end up watching these videos and every single time, even if its not a topic that would usually interest me, i am always blown away by the quality and effort that these videos have. the research and editing is incredible and I have never not been hooked. thankyou safiya and team for making videos like this that isnt just a simple comparison video, but a well thought out, digestable, researched and informative videos, unlike many other videos of this ilk. maybe i should be a hardcore saifya content consumer from now on as I have never watched one I havent enjoyed
Couldn’t have said it better myself! I think this genre is really something that she should explore. They are incredibly fascinating and she is a truly talented content creator!
These scams make me so mad, and the fact that the platforms the ads are on just turn a blind eye is awful. Scam stores like infec are awful, and I'm so glad that you're addressing this, and calling them out. You're an internet hero, Saf.💯❤👏
Yep! I purchased one thing off an ad from instagram and guess what, scam. It feels like an absolute infestation of dupe and scam ads. Be careful what you purchase i guess. :/
The end message was so important thank you for including that Safiya! Even if you are willing to settle for a lower quality dress for paying less money, since they still did look cute on Safiya, you are also paying these business to continue treating their workers horribly and making products that will likely fall apart, be unwearable, and land up in a landfill for hundreds of years.
The landfill part doesn't apply to burnable products if you live in a place that incinerates trash for the heat generated by turning it into ash and slag . But it's still a waste of material, resources and work hours .
Excellent work and analysis. I love how you went deep with searching the related content, companies, models, customers, it s very professional. Now that is what called real content creation! Thank you!
On behalf of every gal that's been weirded out and gained trust issues from browsing experiences like these, I thank you for your service. 😭🙏🏼 The way you tracked down everything right down to the repeated "reviews" - AMAZINGLY SATISFYING
don’t get me wrong I LOVE safiya’s wish videos but seeing this video and her looking more into the very fishy and very unethical companies makes me so happy. i’m so happy that she has not only mentioned how the other websites have a very unethical business model, she spent so much time tracking down the real content creators and calling out the bad practises of sites we love and are complicit in all of this. genuinely thank you safiya, I look forward to you taking down the man in more videos in the future 🙏
I was seriously impressed and grateful to hear/see this. I've been scammed, bought some really crappy clothes from companies with questionable "return" policies that don't honor them when I wanted to return within 30 days. So glad to be pointed to the original and better/real product. Thand you, Safiya
I came to the comments to say the exact same thing as you. Her wish/shein/etc videos are super entertaining and fun, but seeing her explicitly saying that she does *not* endorse sites like AliExpress and bundling it in with the other fast fashion sites made me respect her even more.
This is a great way to demonstrate media literacy - the way new social media platforms are willing to exploit users' content and share ads with scam sites needs to be spotlighted so younger consumers understand the risks involved with these areas of the Internet.
This just gave me an idea of what to do with the 13-year-olds in my class (I'm teaching computer science, and part of the curriculum is about media literacy). I already can imagine their surprised Pikachu faces when they start to dig deep.
These dropshipping scammers are so many levels of disgusting, and Safiya did such a great job explaining it. Stealing art from designers and the likeness of others is horrible, and I appreciate the conversation this opens up
isn't tik tok chinese? i mean they sometimes litteraly produce the knock off in the same factory that they do the real designer product. and they have no issue with that.
Just a note that it's not just clothes. This happens with wigs, with makeup, with manicure/nail polish products, perfume, skincare, and on and on and on. You really have to be careful.
And make up and skincare can be so so dangerous.. at least clothes just look cheap. But i have to spend a good amount of time making sure my products are authentic.
Very late to this video - thank you for doing the leg work for us on exposing these scams! I am more glad everyday that I have refused to engage with tiktok, short form content from creators that I actually care about ends up on other platforms regardless and I have spared myself wading through this mess!
You really have to give respect to Safiya and her team cause the effort they put into producing these videos are astronomical. The research, the tracking down, the statistics, the filming and editing. it’s all so well thought out and well-executed it really feels like a project more than just a RUclips video. It’s amazing
It's disgusting how TikTok and Instagram just let all this slide. I knew this kind of thing happened but I honestly didn't realise how bad it is, especially with these scammers stealing creators content. I know I'll be WAY more careful where I buy from in future! Great video!
I am learning so much about shopping websites scams thanks to you. I won’t make the same mistakes again. I now see the red flags from the previous times I have been scammed from shopping online.
Safiya! I've not even finished the video yet but NEEDED to pop down here to the comments to give all the props to you and your team for your amazing investigative work and thoroughly detailed analysis of these scams going on. This seems like a talent of yours (and team!), even the way you presented your findings was so engaging and easy to understand and follow. It would be great to see what other videos you could develop using this investigative angle to help us out! Even branching out from online fashion scams, but perhaps covering other topics too :)
I think it’s really good that you document the shady practices of these companies and how they screw over consumers. Because clearly this information is not gonna be available online anywhere else. Amazing video! And amazing warning TikTok users of these scams:)
Well, this information has been out there for a while, but I'm glad she's sharing it with a wider audience of people who wouldn't usually research these things on their own.
Thought this was going to be a funny "What I ordered VS what i got" video and it ended up becoming an investigate Dateline and I'm here for it. Seriously appreciate your depth of content and the time and money you put into these!
You really did an awesome job of getting to the bottom of what’s going on in these ads & pulling apart these companies that the majority of us women get “duped” by & make purchases from. Thank you for being thorough with all ur findings as well!!! ❤ 🙌🏼
I actually still see these ads for this sundress on RUclips. I could tell they were a scam, but couldn't find the ACTUAL dress anywhere. So thank you Safiya for creating this video to both tell me where the original dress is from AND spread awareness for these disgusting scams!
Insanely problematic. I would hate to have my image/ likeness stolen/ used in order to advertise & sell something I don't endorse. I feel for those who are basically victims of the schemes. I'm so incredibly tired of scammers in *every* form! Great work Safiya and team 👏🏻
@u.r. I worked for a photographer for a number of years when I was younger (as things were phasing out from film to digital and hand retouching was replaced by photoshopping, etc) and even though the proofs and other pics had the copyright stamped right on the photo, ppl would still try to get copies.
True, I had my negatives/photo idea stolen from my photography exam display (the course leaders insisted we submit our negatives "for proof"; then proceeded to question whether our submissions were real; casing aspersions about our genuineness)@@u.r.
There HAS to be a way for social media companies to be held liable for this BS. I'm so tired of all these ads and about 80% of them being scams. Facebook, TikTok, Instagram etc---THEY should be vetting ads. This is unacceptable and the main reason I'll NEVER purchase from ads I see on social media. Which really sucks for small businesses trying to get their product out there.
I worked for a "small business" for a while, it was all cheap overseas plastic garbage with a new tag, claimed to be handmade. Always do a picture search when buying stuff and just go buy the cheapest one if you don't want to be ripped off.
as someone who bought the peachy charm dress after seeing an IG ad, i will say that it’s actually super good quality and did come with a lace up corset back! fast fashion is not sustainable in the long run, but i’m glad this is a dress that will last me a long time!
Um damn. I'm really impressed. I've never seen one of your vids before and I clicked on this just thinking it would be a simple "I ordered the same stuff from different places, let's see how they're different!" I did not expect this full blown investigation and analysis. Quality work, Safiya! You genuinely earned my like and subscription. I really wish people would stop buying from these cheap stores. I mean, beyond just the risk of being scammed, it perpetuates so many negative things. Scam industry, child labor, slavery (damn near, if not actual), pollution (during production and when the item is thrown away), small business attrition, etc., etc. I know not everyone has the income to buy the real deal all the time... but if you don't have the income for that, do you really need another dress?
This has completely valifated my resistance to buying anything on tiktok. I knew the shop feature would just be a scam. Because if regular peoples content can be stolen a thousand time over, why wouldn't they steal content for advertising too. Absolutely incredible and thorough work from you and Tyler!
HELLO FRIENDS!! today, we investigated a mysterious dress that has been advertised all over my tiktok for you page.... and then bought that same dress from 4 different companies for $4, $30, $60, & $200 to see what the actual *heck* is going on here, batman… 🕵🏻♀have you guys seen any fishy tiktok ads before? what should we look into next? xoxo, saf
You are amazing slayyyyyyyy
Question for you, are you a FBI agent like you deep dive just for a video lol
Safiya... We love your franken videos.. Do more of these...❤
WE LOVE U SAF
What do you think it would take to get the platforms to do something?
This has become a a HUGE problem. I don’t make clothing, but I am an amateur silversmith. Even at my level, I’ve had photos of my jewelry stolen and used on some sketchy sites. I work very hard on my pieces and spend hours on photography alone. It makes me extremely angry knowing my hard work is being used to scam people out of their hard earned money, and it makes people less inclined to purchase genuine artisan items.
Do you place "watermarks" on your pictures? Do the scammers somehow erase them or just leave them hoping that people won't notice?
@@cb9825 They don't care about watermarks. They'll either crop it out, blur it, or just leave it in and know nothing will be enforced. Simply Nailogical investigated her photos and videos being stolen way back in 2019 or so. I'm sure it's even more prevalent now that the Holo Taco business is larger too.
@@cb9825 It's very easy to take watermarks off if they're not splashed all over the image, and even if it's all over the image, if you're good with photoshop, you can still take them off. It's a big problem in the art community with reposters posting art online without credit & erasing the watermarks.
@@cb9825I was gonna ask the same - if people have business nowadays especially selling products, I wouldn’t go without watermark on every photo. Stealing is unfortunately normal especially with fast fashion sites…
@@cb9825 The scammers will often use the images, watermark and all!
Safiya turning into a social media consumer protection investigative journalist is the energy we all need
Absolutely
Totalgarbage! Copying 8SNT stealing!
What can’t she do. ❤
She needs to buddy up with Anne Reardon, the matriarchal voice of reason we all love and need
You wrote what I was thinking perfectly. I am enjoying her murder mystery lens looking into these fashion ads.
I am LIVING for how totally unhinged Saf went when she sniffed a scam. This is a masterpiece. This is a Netflix doc. This is DETECTIVE LEVEL SH*T
A few years ago I repented to God then begged for help, "I was until then an Atheist."
I then had a dream of Jesus coming before God and he spoke of the Tabernacle in perfect context, "A word I didn't know existed.", and what I felt from Jesus when I held him was unlike anything I've ever felt before - A lifetime of Love every second - It brought me to sobbing and it changed my life, forever.
I've had Many experiences since, "Several witnessed", one was seeing a bright orb of light pass across my face in the dark, hours before a major surgery the second I gave up in my heart.
Know that God and Jesus ARE real and that they Love us deeply. Let go of your hatred and Imagine yourself holding the people who've hurt you. Tell them you Love them.
Always have hope, I believe that prayer, following God's laws & Love is the answer, and through that, Truly becoming humble, merciful, welcoming, giving, gentle, respectful, compassionate, patient, kind and forgiving, To All.
You have a mild standard for unhinged lol
And that’s exactly why I love her, she puts in the work she does not sugarcoat🥹 she looks out for us.
It feels like one of the bdg unraveled videos lol
OMG YES!!!!
Instagram & TikTok need to be held accountable for people being scammed.
Pinterest also.
I bought it a couple days ago before seeing this vid and now I’m worried abt what I’ll be getting. Honestly I deserve it for not doing more research
Editing this to say it was unwearable garbage
@@azaleaadair9053 :-( try to cancel!
Right like why are they allowing ads for scams on their platforms? Shouldn't they be doing work to see whther they actually want to partner with these companies?
@@azaleaadair9053I bought one and it was nothing like the dress in the video. It was trash. It’s a scam :/
i don’t think we’re talking enough about safiya’s deep dive and research she did for this video like it’s so impressive how wonderfully she did with proper information and facts. you can tell that she has an incredible mind and is so smart.
Right? I would have looked at all of these websites advertising the exact same thing the exact same way and gotten so overwhelmed and not known whete to start, but Saf seems to be really good at cutting through the overwhelming amount of information.
Wellno, she doesn't have the faintest idea what she is talking about! She just keeps parroting the copyright monopoly industries brainwashing and lies, pretending that copying is stealing! Copying is NOT stealing! If it wasn't for copying human culture won't even exist! By railing against copying she is railing against our culture! Safiya wans our culture to NOT exist! She wants a handful of giant corporations to own all human culture! She's a piece of capitalist garbage
I know right, She is so smart
i'm actually extremely grateful that thanks to safiya I have a new website of dresses to drool over while i save up enough cash to actually buy anything HAHA
she did go to Stanford
We, the collective, appreciate you spending over 400 USD and 6 months buying and investigating dresses that are the farthest thing from your own aesthetic
a comfy bat in a corseted sundress!!!!!
she is really dedicated to the cause! (the cause being THE TRUTH!!!!!!)
and god heard her and brought her a black dress😂
the $400 is a business write off
I’m sure
@@stevethepussycat9968 oooh! forgot that, that's true!
The biggest problem is that real-deal small designer shops that create their original products probably suffer because all the copycat fake ads overshadow them.
The biggest problem is that tiktok and instagram (meta) benefit from these scams and won't do anything about it. And no government is even considering holding them accountable for anything.
They absolutely do :C For example, etsy used to be all about small-business, independent, homemade artisan goods. Now it's just another outlet for drop shippers selling the same thing from a Chinese warehouse. You can still find the real artists for sure, but they are drowned out, or just plain hard to find due to etsy's SEO model prioritizing the spam-like quality of the drop-shipper listings.
@@hiddenmutant I haven't been using Etsy as much, but have definitely noticed this more. It's truly disheartening to see, especially when the knock-offs and imitations are sososo bad for the environment, too! We will all pay for cutting costs and fast fashion when our atmosphere is no longer inhabitable, which could end up happening in the next century and is why the wealthy guys are investing so much into space travel... everyone suffers when capitalists and big corporations only care about one thing. Sad, because they won't be able to take their money to the grave with them. And the average person doesn't understand the value of a handmade product or art anymore, because of websites like Temu showing them a similar product for 20 cents! I'm frugal but I absolutely refuse to save money by supporting the hot garbage they try selling with the use of extreme exploitation and reduced quality. I've always been really cheap, but I've been leaning more towards either buying things used, or making sure that what I buy is ethically sourced and produced, at least when it comes to things like clothing/furniture etc. Still working on groceries.
@@hiddenmutantyeah i dont even know how to tell what's a small business (that actually makes their own goods) anymore
@@hiddenmutant yup yup and Depop is now another ground for these trash instead of second hand sellers or handmade stuff...
Not only the corset, I notices the House of CB dresses are layered and have visible lace endings and unseen tule adding volume.
It's not anti-consumerist to have the model wear under garments, including a slip or petticoat.
@@pkmntrainerlilly5 the dress isn't for your prude bitch ass anyway, go seek help
She needs a netflix show for this, the amount of time and effort put into these videos and researching things is unbelivable
Thank you for manifesting this 🙌
Netflix would ruin it
I’d resubscribe to Netflix for this.
You know what, I would watch it.
Adam ruins everything got a show.
Safiya should get into more investigative journalism like this. She’s a great presenter, and there’s so much material to work with in the fashion/beauty world.
Omg yes it would be so good
YES! PLEASE!
I mean she was literary a investigatetory reporter in escape the night
She used to do work for BuzzFeed but I think she enjoys freelancing/doing her own content because she can choose what topics to cover (and she probably makes more money too haha)
@@Alex__Size she also didn’t really do stuff like this at Buzzfeed
I love how she's actually doing and showing us all the investigation process behind, and not only buying and compering the dresses. that's actually the best way to do a reveiw in my opinion
I came for a silly, yeah these are bad quality knockoffs, and stayed for the investigative journalism. This took me by absolute surprise.
+ for making it interesting
I showed it to my 22 year old. She said she is bombarded with adds for these dresses . I told her we would buy her the original . Thanks Saf!
I am a college librarian, and I am 100% saving this video to use as an example in my information literacy courses. So good.
right! The way she cites her sources and incorporates her own critical thinking, she is amazing. I'd love to read her papers that she writes for these videos too! 🧡
Are you also using the ACRL framework? Curious to know how students respond to it.
She said it feels luxury lol it's luxurious . A librarian who didn't. Catch that . 😂
Yay for librarians 👏🏻♥️ bless you for being a hero!
@@gypsyrose-qq9nz whatever?
I love the level of journalism that goes into a dress comparison video. Literally, the reason I love watching
She is a pro :)
It’s actually so intriguing cause I would love to do this kind of investigating myself if it wasn’t so much effort and it’s cool to see it be done fully without me having to do it
@@LuaBarbosa01ruclips.net/video/KF2fIVQ0bk8/видео.htmlsi=lbiqYePDCjL1mkGE
It's not even a good amount of investigating lol.
A few years ago I repented to God then begged for help, "I was until then an Atheist."
I then had a dream of Jesus coming before God and he spoke of the Tabernacle in perfect context, "A word I didn't know existed.", and what I felt from Jesus when I held him was unlike anything I've ever felt before - A lifetime of Love every second - It brought me to sobbing and it changed my life, forever.
I've had Many experiences since, "Several witnessed", one was seeing a bright orb of light pass across my face in the dark, hours before a major surgery the second I gave up in my heart.
Know that God and Jesus ARE real and that they Love us deeply. Let go of your hatred and Imagine yourself holding the people who've hurt you. Tell them you Love them.
Always have hope, I believe that prayer, following God's laws & Love is the answer, and through that, Truly becoming humble, merciful, welcoming, giving, gentle, respectful, compassionate, patient, kind and forgiving, To All.
The fact that none of them had the one unique feature and number one selling point of the original dress is WILD!
that functioning corset back is expensive to produce and labor intensive. I thought they would swap in an elastic back but they didn't even do that!
Honestly, I wasn't expecting an actual corset but I was expecting at least a fake one, like a few stuck on straps in a crisscross pattern or whatever. But they didn't even try to do that. 😅
Well also keep in mind that but also even though AliExpress was still lying about the product that listing at least made sure to edit out the corset. Also, yeah I'm sure it's not OVERTLY hard to add a couple straps in a criss cross pattern that's f'ed up
@@lestranged Yes I have one with an elastic back ,I love it so much
@@SeraEMS Aloexpress actually is very strict on sellers
I was BOMBARDED with these ads after I found interest in the dress and simply clicked on one of the scams websites. I AM SO HAPPY I DIDN"T BUY IT. It screamed fash fashion all over, it just boils my blood cause not everyone thinks it through before buying. Glad you promoted/exposed the real dress so that those who can afford it can get the quality dress they deserve.
all jokes aside, Safiya has singlehandedly done more to investigate TikTok’s data-mining operation than the united states congress
That's because congress is made up of pensioners who only know Tik Tok as the sound clocks make.
I just discovered her. I'm going to ask someone that may have more knowledge than myself. I'm looking for boxers. Do you have a place you order or would order from? I do orders for elderly people so I check everything. Before I order. But I see lots of ads for boxers(it's for a woman but I do wear men's as well). Excuse me for asking
@@Nursing1988just stick to reputable sites.
@@Nursing1988you are so polite 😊 it’s so refreshing ✨
Safiya doing investigate work is what she should focus on more. I like Jenny Nicholson the most too when she is investigating something like the park video.
I feel like this was a complete documentary unmasking an industry 10/10
In less than 30 minutes!
Same😂❤
agreed!! This is all drop shipping from super easy from shopify
SAME
Saf and her team do better investigative journalism than most mainstream journals
Because she gets paid more than them and is respected.
It’s a good start.
I felt like I was watching an episode of black mirror!
this is a great educational video, but it is very different than investigative journalism! investigative journalists go through multiple rounds of editing and fact checking.
for example, the wall street journal’s most recent investigative story on how instagram and meta are pushing harmful content.
not trying to be a downer, but just trying to educate on the amazing work journalists still do.
are you delusional
“Aliexpress was the most honest”….wow, now there’s something I never thought I’d hear and believe 😂
There needs to be more punishment for online fraud. A lot of these just want your card information to further steal from you and they never get in trouble for it
Accurate!!!!
its okay, you can say Temu.
this is why i never want to order from these 😭 i even ordered something from ali express and it came in like 2 weeks and it was legit
That’s why you use google/Apple Pay
You have to be really careful where you put your card info in
the problem is most of these companies are from China. China doesn't give two shits about fraud and copyright, even less if the US is complaining about it. They literally ripped off so many famous things and they got off scot free.
Thank you for highlighting this Safiya! I felt so bad this summer for everyone who was buying dresses off of videos using my stolen videos. The more people that know about it the better!
sorry im not on these platforms, does Tik Tok or Instagram not consider your videos as intellectual property? I know RUclips cracks down content stealing or unauthorized usage.
I hope you get loads of followers off this! 💜 Have you ever done a tour of your bookshelf? I see a few books and series I recognize but lots more that I don't!
@@chenisejenkins1786i’m not 100% certain but i think tiktok has it in their terms and conditions that once a video is posted that video is basically no longer the creator’s (i.e. it can be used and the creator doesn’t have to be paid nor can fight it because they agreed to the t&c)
@@chenisejenkins1786they don’t care because they didn’t post it. It’s probably in the terms no one reads, so they’ll use it as a “well we trusted them not to do illegal things” but meanwhile benefiting from ad revenue.
tiktok is owned by a chinese company... they probably support scam websites because they come from chinese factories....
I’m glad Safiya did this video. I feel like she has a good chance of reaching people who might otherwise get scammed without information like this. Thanks for helping the fans, Saf!
ruclips.net/video/KF2fIVQ0bk8/видео.htmlsi=lbiqYePDCjL1mkGE
A few years ago I repented to God then begged for help, "I was until then an Atheist."
I then had a dream of Jesus coming before God and he spoke of the Tabernacle in perfect context, "A word I didn't know existed.", and what I felt from Jesus when I held him was unlike anything I've ever felt before - A lifetime of Love every second - It brought me to sobbing and it changed my life, forever.
I've had Many experiences since, "Several witnessed", one was seeing a bright orb of light pass across my face in the dark, hours before a major surgery the second I gave up in my heart.
Know that God and Jesus ARE real and that they Love us deeply. Let go of your hatred and Imagine yourself holding the people who've hurt you. Tell them you Love them.
Always have hope, I believe that prayer, following God's laws & Love is the answer, and through that, Truly becoming humble, merciful, welcoming, giving, gentle, respectful, compassionate, patient, kind and forgiving, To All.
i literally sent this to my mom cause she got got at least 3x by websites like this
Honestly, I'll be using this video in a lesson for my high school students to teach them about scamming and its dangers. Safiya's videos and Cristine's podcast "simplypodlogical" can be used nicely to educate my students since they speak clearly, informed, and talk about topics that are very relevant to them.
Istg, Safiya is the ONLY creator I’ll watch who makes a “$10 vs $100” type video. I see them a lot from clickbait accounts who are obviously faking scenarios and trying to flex their wealth, and the way Saf goes into these concepts with skepticism and investigates the underlying problems is a breath of fresh air. Keep it up💕
As a small business owner who had content stolen, THANK YOU for making this video
ugh that’s awful, i’m sorry that happened to you. what exactly happened?
So upsetting to read stuff like this. I'm very sorry. ❤
Same here!
Oh no!!! What happened? I'd love to hear your story!
Now I’m curious. What do you sell? It’s okay if you don’t feel comfortable replying
When I first clicked on the video, I thought it was going to be a dress try-on video, and that's it. However, the amount of dedication Saf put into the research and presenting it so clearly in the video is extremely commendable
right? I was so impressed with all the work that went into this video with the cross checking and even the editing style was very smooth
Very entertaining as well. I watched the whole thing because of it. This video was fascinating.
One reason I love your videos is you don't just say I bought a dress from 4 sites, you actually do it deep dive into how you did it, why and what the impact can be. Thank you for the time, effort and energy you put into your videos and going as far as to find the people featured in the fake ads who had their legitimate content stolen. You don't just make quick win videos, you put the effort in to make something worth watching
She is one of the most legit when it comes to product testing in this format.
ruclips.net/video/KF2fIVQ0bk8/видео.htmlsi=lbiqYePDCjL1mkGE
this whole thing could honestly be a whole paper for a university class
We need laws to financially punish these online scammers! Can there be a fairness doctrine for business/commerce? But thank you for shouting out the original creator and the models.
Usary used to be a crime and there were truth in advertising laws...but that was a long time ago
This is actually such a good look over of this weird "copy product" phenomena and online "dupe" scamming that is so prevalent on the internet. Like it genuinely boggles my mind that you found THAT MANY COPIES.
As if it's something new, China has been pirating expensive/popular products since forever. I remember several kids in my school had pirated shoes from famous brands
And there’s probably a hundred more too
my question is why the FUCK do people keep buying them.
Bernadette Banner did a great breakdown of a scammer who stole her dress design. This was a few years ago- but the scammers just keep spawning in the TikTok swamp.
She roasted the hell out of them.
china has virtually no copyright law. that explains several things in life once you realize
how could the things that people say made the universe get here is there was nothing God made it all so many prophecies are being filled from revelations telling us that Jesus is coming back they are happing right now in the world he loves and cares😊
@@elliot_rat how could the things that people say made the universe get here is there was nothing God made it all so many prophecies are being filled from revelations telling us that Jesus is coming back they are happing right now in the world he loves and cares😊
@@Maob08 how could the things that people say made the universe get here is there was nothing God made it all so many prophecies are being filled from revelations telling us that Jesus is coming back they are happing right now in the world he loves and cares😊
Clicked for the dress, left with admiration for the amazing investigation...Safiya is high quality!
Truly the "House of CB" of tiktok haul youtubers!
Is she preggo?
@@LetsBHonest we don't talk about other people's bodies
I became seriously invested in this video when she got out the board with the strings. Well done, Saf!
it's amazing that one person was able to do such deep investigation but tech companies "can't"
i love shein reviews bc you can tell either the moment they got the dress or directly at the end of them using it they quickly take a picture, and none of them are professional.
aren't shein reviews also by confirmed purchasers? (might be confusing with amazon) but it's a little weird how not all sites have that
@@gemink7939 Yeah, you have to buy the product to review it.
As someone who sews it's been infuriating to see both the quality of fabric and the quality of clothing go downhill so far and so fast. People really don't understand how much work it is to make these dresses and how painful it is to have your hard work stolen - both as a designer and an model. Thanks for doing this dive.
I found an online store that custom makes each item of clothing before they send it to you. I bought two coats which fit perfectly and had gorgeous, thick, beautiful , high quality wool blend fabric , one in dark green, the other in a rich wine color. You just send them your measurements, height, weight, body shape (apple, pear etc). They will last for years.
I began my sewing journey making aprons, baby quilts, curtains, etc. The closest I came to clothes was the occasional costume and some basic tailoring to get something to fit right. This was pre-online shopping and I lived in jeans and tee shirts, so quality was pretty much the same across the board. As my style started to evolve and I was buying more clothes and fast fashion really started taking hold, I watched the quality of workmanship and fabrics (read: cheap AF synthetics) get worse and worse. So, now I sew a LOT of my own clothing (admittedly, this is also due, in part, to the fact that I wear 40s/50s styles, but you can buy reproductions and those can be from the same fast fashion manufacturers and just as bad). The time and effort alone is indicative that nothing should be selling as cheap as most clothing sells for
@@rachelferet3941You sound like a woman after my own heart! I'm trying to pick up some better sewing skills (made myself some PJ pants and do basic alterations) but I've worn and collected vintage for 25 years and the quality drop even since the '90s is ASTOUNDING! Part of the reason I buy vintage is that it's just made better. Even if I have to restitch a brittle seam, or have new heels put on shoes, they're overall made to last much longer than the disposable clothing now.
@@madamedex5989 I think it says a lot that I've got some handmade dresses from the 50s that are holding up better than most modern RTW.
I can't really speak too much on the quality of clothing purchased new in the '90s because I was thrifting then on account of being poor 😂 But I can say that all of my clothes, new or thrifted, would be held on to for years before getting getting misshapen or a seam coming out whereas now, half the stuff new, still on the rack has loose threads, etc.
@@rachelferet3941 Exactly! I have dresses from the early-mid '60s that were very inexpensive "junior modes" you would've found at Sears or Penney's and they are better constructed than most Ralph Lauren, J. Crew, and the like now. One thing I remember fondly from the '90s, and even early 2000s was how you could find natural fabrics even at lower and mid-tier levels. VS had tons of real silk nighties that would go on clearance, Target carried linen, silk, and wool items. Now everything, short of seasonal "luxury" offers is poly/rayon/nylon. I can only imagine what it's doing to the environment.
I know most of the time we flock to these videos to see "What I paid for vs what I got" funny dress dupes, but this whole video is legitimately an in depth and thorough piece of investigative journalism. Delving to the reality of these scam sites, while also educating people on how to avoid these scams and on the ethics of using creators content unconsentually in ads. Stellar STELLAR job Safiya and Team, this was so well done.
For real, this was basically a short documentary. Very well done.
Modern journalism that we need, consumer and women's rights! Well written
Holy shit this goes deep! I have seen so many dupes of other clothing, and the one that really made it start to bother me was when other sites like Modakawa started ripping off the design of an original clothing designer local to me (Melanoir). She is extremely frustrated that these companies blatantly steal her designs and sell them for way cheaper, which takes away from her business. I'd love to see more content like this, excellent work!!
when I was working at Nordstrom I’d often have people who were shocked/angry at the price of House of CB items, because they see ostensibly same items for soooo much less. it’s ruining people’s conception of clothing production and expectations
You can't help the dumb.
This is a different line of work but I work in a pet supply store and we are a small business trying to bring only the best of pet food products to the consumer, such as no additives and reputable sources for (dried) meats.
It makes it so a bag of for example beef skin chewy bones costs quite a bit more than the supermarket or heaven forbid: the dollar store, since we only use reputable sources of producers.
People often come in asking for the best food/snacks for their pets, but then scoff at the price and say "But I can get this at the dollar store for X amount less!" Yeah but that also comes with additives and significantly lower quality of food.. people truly will pay less for an inferior product just to save money, instead of thinking about the quality.
@@mr_selfdestruct I wish I could go to this store you're talking about. I have a dog with allergies to very common ingredients (peas, brewer's yeast, and 15 (yes, actually 15!) other food-related ingredients. It is SO HARD trying to find food or treats or good chews. I've had to change his food three times because the brands keep getting discontinued. It sounds like I might be able to find stuff for him at your store~
@@mistingwolftry looking for raw pet food suppliers in your local area. The ingredients list is very short: human grade muscle and organ meat, ground bones or bone meal and some supplements such as omega3 oil.
Though not cheap, I find the price comparable to the higher end canned food.
@@fredericapanon207 Thanks! I will check around to see if I can find someone in my area (I live in BFNW, lol)
Hopefully this will spread more awareness of these scam ads and give House of CB a boost in sales. That dress is adorable
I am looking into getting one, props to Safiya for finding the original and reaching out to the models.
House of CB doesnt need the boost, they're plenty famous already. Plus I always see a lot of comments about their customer and returns service being... not the best. The dresses are gorgeous but it always makes me wary or buying.
It’s really expensive, so I don’t think they need more sales
It reminds me of something by gunne sax, innocent world, Mary Magdalene, Liz Lisa etc
@@zenbdgI know about HouseOfCB, but I never knew they sold the original of this style of dress. I have had these Ads for months and really liked the dress but didn’t want to support an unknown fast fashion shopify site. This video is solely the reason I discovered that this dress is originally from HouseOfCB and I will be driven to make a sale because of this
next up on my channel - I bought the same shark blanket for $4, $30, $60, and $200 🦈
Yo I need this in my life
please review shark blankets so i know which one to get ☝️
Wait you should test different cat costumes. That would be so funny to see Cosmo all dressed up. You could dress them up as an astronaut. 🤣
You better not be kidding Tyler!
Yes! I bought a cheap one. They tried to get me to subscribe and when they finally came, it was kid sized and they refused to exchange. 😭
These dress ads overtook my insta feed as well around May 2023. It just wouldn't stop, and I always wondered which would be ok to purchase. Thank you for investigating this and giving me some closure :P
MELT👏THE👏DRESSES👏TOGETHER
Thats EXACTLY what i'm saying!!!
I laughed out loud thank you for that
Frankendress!
So while the cheap ones are probably some polyester/ poly blend that could melt, the real one likely has a solid amount of natural fibers and would burn instead (the burn test is a legitimate way to figure out fiber content of unknown fabrics)
😂😂😅
I bought the ACTUAL House of CB blue and white floral printed corset dress at the start of the year for the full big price. I love it and the quality is amazing but after I bought the dress, I started getting all the ads for the cheap knock off versions. Once I saw the ad for the same dress at $4, I started freaking out thinking House of CB actually scammed me and sold me an AliExpress dress which I could’ve purchased much cheaper. Seeing this video made me feel much better that I bought the real thing.
do you have the listing link of this dress ? I love it so much !!
House of CB has such amazing quality and they have such good looking pieces I hate that their pieces are stolen like this
It is pretty obvious that the $4 dress is the scam here. The House of CB dress has so much craftsmanship and thought to the design put into it to make the lace-up corset work.
I completely agree with you. I own several pieces from House of CB and I must say, the quality justifies the price. No other “brands”, including Ali, can replicate such amazing products. The level of craftsmanship is truly exceptional.
I didn't know about the House of CB brand until I watched this video, but brand names are easy to search up. If you search a brand name up sometimes you might see this panel that tells you about what the company offers, when it was founded and who it was founded by. If you are seeing it chances are it's most likely legit. Besides, you already felt that the quality is good, high quality garments don't come cheap!
I don't know a lot about US business law, but this sounds like you gathered a lot a evidence to get a lot of companies in trouble for stealing people's likenesses. Good work Saf!
a lot of these companies don’t even operate in the US though. the grammar on its own points to that
TikTok is a Chinese company and the US allows them to operate on American devices without adhering to US rules.
I mean, what companies. I think the way they operate is to be untraceable or at least unpunishable by laws of countries in which they operate. They appear, disappear, cancel websites, create new ones. It's just tons of anonymous shell companies.
@@PegasStar not to mention they tend to steal from independent creators who don't have the legal team to sue
That's the issue. Most of these scam accounts are from outside the US.
The amount of research, time and effort you put into your videos is just the best. I adore your videos because they're so thorough and informative and it's like a RUclips video mixed with a documentary and it's just great!
why is no one talking about how safiya is a literal investigator with finding EVERYTHING about these fake companies. actual icon.
She’s Queen
Better than Sherlock
Can we nominate her for an Oscar somehow
Everyone is saying that
Gotta be a bot becsuse there are dozens and dozens of comments stating her investigation skills are great
You deserve a Pulitzer for this piece of investigative journalism
I know right, it was thorough and impressive. I have new understanding how product scam is dealt with fake ads. She gets a follow for this video.
the only thing i didnt like was she did not verify the legitimacy of the steve madden ad. ive seen scam websites try to imitate companies as well through facebook ads. (i dont use tiktok that often)
Well, she does have experience.
*Escape the Night Season 3.*
What's that.. @@KuroKat08
I have drifted away from Safiya's content in yhe past fre years, but this is a reminder of WHY she deserves and needed her own channel and platform. Nothing ever done halfway, and actually quite thoughtful and serious about seemingly fun and frivolous topics.
Same! At some point all I seemed to see were those three hour live videos of doing very random stuff and those really just weren’t for me. But this is really amazing and impressive!
Same here! I was telling my sisters how I had not seen her videos in literally years, and this one showed up in my feed.
Same!
Those are her and Tyler's channel, separate from her main but agree great investigative videos!@@MiriINC
Same here!
not to mention the bigger rabbit hole of the fact that theyre ALL fast fashion, including house of cb
i used to work for House of CB online customer service and THE AMOUNT of people who would accidentally buy from scam websites and then message us complaining they never received their orders was INSANE
That. How. Why buy from a completely different cheap website only to complain to a- why, how can people be so dumb. I’m sorry fellow Safiya Enjoyer. You didn’t deserve to be used as a stress toy for those people
The average human has the braincell of a goldfish. Yes. singular.
It seems you never saw how these scammers operate. They create almost identical and very well done websites as the real one and that’s how people think is the real company. These scammers are becoming better and better it’s their full time job.
I can understand how this would happen at one point when you searched House of CB there are sponsored scam websites that pop up at the top of the page that have sites that are only off by a letter or so. I've fallen for it too however I always quickly notice something is off because I've shopped on the House of CB website before and I'm familiar with their pricing. They do not sell dresses for $80.
@@BayaintheRezthey don’t know they were buying from a scam website..
It’s weird that tiktok isn’t facing legal backlash for this. It’s shady af
It's not. Tiktok is Chinese, in China there are no laws to protect intellectual property.
The models/influencers who’s images and videos are being stolen should bring a class action lawsuit against these platforms and “companies”
Tik Tok is a China owned and operated company, they are fully complicit and supportive of this activity
It's not a US based company, so unfortunately there's nothing anyone here can do about it.
And tiktok won't stop because they're just getting richer and richer off of all these sponsored ads.
@@buxomboba but it is at very high risk of being banned in the US which would negatively effect its profit. So you'd think they'd be extra cautious to do their due diligence because I guarantee if any of the anti-China MAGA reps get told about this vid, it will absolutely be used as fuel to their TT ban crusade.
PLEASE PLEASE keep covering this whole tiktok dropshipping store scam stuff, you're the only person i've seen cover it and i think more people should be aware of it!!
After awhile that many videos will be boring
Yeah I don’t trust ANY of these sites, super sus. Only buy from real stores.
This video should be required watching for all internet users! Thank you for your research and presentation!!! Super solid!!
The fact that the whole POINT of this dress is the corseted back and none of the dupes have it is INSANE.
Honestly I love this kind of video wayyy more than the "I melted every x together" videos, this was super well-researched and presented!
agreed!!
Yes. She gives us a full final project research. I understand it is time consuming so she can't release so many, but I love them.
I'm kinda surprised the knockoffs didn't even make a feeble attempt to make a lace-up back or front with three sets of loops instead of a dozen! What they sent looks like cheap nightgowns.
You really didn't need to undermine her other video just because you enjoyed this one better. How about be grateful for the content?
@@alil4586 She seems plenty grateful to me. Nothing wrong with encouraging a youtuber to do more of this sort of investigative reporting, by saying they like it better than some other earlier type of work.
i love when saf destroys big companies in a cute upbeat 30 minute video
me too
Unfortunately AliExpress is still going strong
TikTok knows who the fleeing companies are because they paid for the ads
She didn't destroy anything. No one cares 😂
big companies lol
As a seamstress I’ve been seeing variations of this dress for like a year now and I had no idea what was the original dress BUT I knew it had to cost at least 150 bucks. All the videos show that the dress has a pretty decent construction, it has cups on the top, an added corset on the back, an invisible zipper, pockets. The material seems to be a printed lightweighted cotton. There is no way that this, properly made, is a cheap dress so is nice to finally see the comparison😊 and reveal how extensive this scams can go
I believe its the carmen dress from House of CB. They have the dress in different lengths on top of different colors. In my opinion anytime I see a dress like this is immediately makes me think of this company because they do it so well
cool to hear the perspective from someone like you who sews! i dont know anything about seamstressing(?) but i can imagine how all those added elements add a ton of labor, esp the corset part i'm sure must be very finicky to do right, which relates to how all the cheap versions saf bought were corsetless
If you're reading this message! You are the best person! Be always healthy!
Yeah it's actually like 200😅 all stolen footage
@@Ellie-cp2gzYou’re right! House of Cb’s rise in popularity has led to an insane amount of dupes like this thrown out in hoards.
honestly watching these videos is super comforting because safiya has a similar body type to me and she looks beautiful in everything she wears, so it makes me feel beautiful by proxy.
I used to be against spending a lot of money on clothes but this video showed me that it's better to support the original designers because they put a lot of thought and effort into their garments while those that steal ideas don't care about the original designers or the customers. Thanks Safiya.
Always better to buy a few quality items than a buttload of garbage
Quality is always worth paying for.
I thought that way too before my aunt introduced me to some designer brands she liked (NOTE: Not high fashion) and I never wanted to deal with fast fashion again. I now save up for my clothes, patch them and take care of them a million times more than my old fast fashion clothes
@@aliasilver_636 Which one? :)
@@aliasilver_636what brands do you like to shop from? If you don’t mind sharing 💓
This is legitimate educational material about the internet. They should show this in schools
Well done 👍👍👍
As a high school teacher who recently commenced a module about online scams and disinformation, I’m considering recommending this video to my students. ☺️👌🏼
@@Thislackspurpose you should:) and it would lead them to this whole channel which is filled with other useful learning content :)
what would this teach??? that if you spend 1/10th of the cost you receive 1/10th of the quality??
yes, that is part of it. But it teaches a lot more. What to look out for, how easy it is to make fake accounts, reviews, and ads. It will help the next generation understand some of the environmental consequences to fast Fashion and ordering online.
@@conan4real
@@conan4real if that's all you took from this then you failed to understand the point of this video. It's about scam marketing, doctored and stolen content, lack of regulation and privacy laws to protect your content posted on the internet. The structure behind scam websites (likely one or very few suppliers who will produce items for a variety of websites. However it's more or less the same item just marketed at different prices)
"Is this science", I think its investigative journalism.
Both maybe?
@@ItsunoMitsuhanomenokami Social Science!
Science is a method. So it can be both.
Excellent 👍🏻 During the pandemic I bought a bunch of dresses “on sale” from an Irish online boutique- I didn’t have much money but the owner was a woman and I thought I was supporting a female entrepreneur, but when the dresses arrived they were low quality, then a few weeks later I saw the same dresses on SHEIN for a fraction of the price, well below the “sale” price 😕 I reckon she found the dresses on SHEIN and then just marketed the same items really well , I have checked out of any hope of conscious consumerism because all retailers are there to make a profit from me, and all the workers are abroad, Temu and SHEIN might be profiting less. The only time I feel confident of being an ethical and wise consumer is at thrift shops 🛍️
They 100% do this. I've seen Instagram adds for crystal wind chimes selling for $80 and shein has them for $10. Exact same product. They obviously just source it from shein
Im an advertising major and this is one of the things that is so huge and nobody knows about. ITS SO CRAZY! The rabbit hole is so big and I THE AMOUNT OF TIMES I tell people and they gasp. So glad Saf is doing this with a bigger platform than I would ever have. She explained it amazingly and better than I could’ve. I can’t wait to find out more about this world and how to really stop ir avoid this scam in my own lifetime.
If you're reading this message. You are the best person! Be always healthy!
I'm also an advertising major. This is the reason I'm never working in advertising again.
@@enamis1 Honestly, same. I worked in marketing but it's so shallow, I'll never go back. It's all about fooling people into buying whatever you're selling, doesn't matter if it's a good product/service or not.
The rabbit hole is going to get even deeper with deep fakes. @footdocdana here on RUclips found out a company made an AI version of her to promote their products....
No fr! I don't even study advertising or anything but like why is it such a pain to find a cute dress? Why are these people's videos stolen to promote a scam? It's so frustrating.
Yup, this is the kind of investigative journalism content I originally signed up for and I'm so glad Safiya's getting back to it! Love her other stuff too but this is where Safiya really makes a difference IMO!
agreed. i noticed the algorithm didn’t grab this one as much as it normally does for her videos. only got suggested to me once and then i had to go track it down myself when i didn’t click it originally. hopefully it still does well. i think this is important to share.
Me too. I've been skipping videos lately, because I'm just not interested in watching another video about mixing 50 lipsticks together or whatever. No offense to anyone intended, btw. People like different kinds of content and that's fine.
But this is the kind of video, that made me personally subscribe to Safiya and I was really excited, when it popped up im my subscription feed.
I really like this kind of videos too. Whatever encourages critical thinking in this era of misinformation is super precious.
@@raraavis7782Same. I've been skipping the Franken-videos for months, but this is right up my alley and I couldn't click on it fast enough!
@@raraavis7782 Ditto. Don't care about mixing lipsticks, perfumes, candy, etc. I like this kind, but I know it is a lot of work, but well worth it!
I hella appreciate everyone on Saf's team who put SO MUCH effort into researching all this for a very comprehensive video.
I love how much effort you put into this! It is incredibly fascinating to see how much you've been able to find out about all the ads and videos ^^ Thank you for showing us what to look out for!
I can not imagine the amount of time and research you spent cracking down on these scam websites. My sister bought this same dress off Amazon, and she was dissatisfied by the cheap fabric...now we know. It's definitely buyer beware online and scammers are getting smarter and smarter. Thank you so much for your public service broadcast and keeping us informed! You rock!
I love how Saf can just casually say she asked Markiplier a random question about an ad. Just pops that in her script like nothing.
what when where I didn't catch that at all
I'd have been surprised to but I do recall she and Mark have a few mutual friends at least. Both her and Mark are good buddies with both Rosanna and MatPat. Mark, Rosanna, and Saf all have been a part of MatPat's Christmas charity streams so it is extremely likely they either know each other personally or at least can be connected by mutual friends if she need to ask him something.
@@neonblkhole28 minutes in
Ikr! I wasn't expecting her to say she contacted him about it, I just thought she was going to say she knows based on everything else she's seen
She's a peer; she has 10 million subs and is verified everywhere, so her DMs probably don't get filtered. Of course she can just ask him something.
You gotta hand it to Safiya's research and journalistic abilities. I never knew something like this is happening on TikTok (then again, I don't use TikTok in the first place.) Love your classic impulse buying content Safiya!
Moral of the story. Don't buy copies and dupes. Well done for highlighting a massive issue! 👏
I am not a hardcore safiya content consumer, but I always end up watching these videos and every single time, even if its not a topic that would usually interest me, i am always blown away by the quality and effort that these videos have. the research and editing is incredible and I have never not been hooked. thankyou safiya and team for making videos like this that isnt just a simple comparison video, but a well thought out, digestable, researched and informative videos, unlike many other videos of this ilk. maybe i should be a hardcore saifya content consumer from now on as I have never watched one I havent enjoyed
Couldn’t have said it better myself! I think this genre is really something that she should explore. They are incredibly fascinating and she is a truly talented content creator!
Well, with nearly 10 mil subscribers it is probably her, her boyfriends and some editors/assistants well paying full time job. Still good, though.
She really shows her and Tyler’s Stanford degrees every now and then
These scams make me so mad, and the fact that the platforms the ads are on just turn a blind eye is awful. Scam stores like infec are awful, and I'm so glad that you're addressing this, and calling them out. You're an internet hero, Saf.💯❤👏
A lot of it is because there are no copyright laws in China and Tik Tok is a Chinese website. What surprised me more was Instagram
Yep! I purchased one thing off an ad from instagram and guess what, scam. It feels like an absolute infestation of dupe and scam ads. Be careful what you purchase i guess. :/
True plus the likelihood of those sites just stealing your card info
It’s crazy how many creators and reviewers you were able to find and identify, that’s so impressive
im acc dying the man waving at 5:19 rlly got me guys holy shit
I’m shocked people don’t know who Duane is. I love Cuttin up with Duane. Hes a huge swiftie and owns a candle company called Sparta candle Co.
As a cybersecurity professional i really appreciate the depth you went to this is pure digital forensics
More accurately: just open source intelligence but sure, sure.
I love the spin she puts on it to. Saf is sassy yet eloquent and quirky.
its incredible wow!!!!
Oh wow, I have a skill in that. LOL. I mean, I'm surprised people don't realize because they don't know how to use simple tools on their phone.
If this is digital forensics I have a PhD in it
The end message was so important thank you for including that Safiya! Even if you are willing to settle for a lower quality dress for paying less money, since they still did look cute on Safiya, you are also paying these business to continue treating their workers horribly and making products that will likely fall apart, be unwearable, and land up in a landfill for hundreds of years.
The landfill part doesn't apply to burnable products if you live in a place that incinerates trash for the heat generated by turning it into ash and slag . But it's still a waste of material, resources and work hours .
@@johndododoe1411 Most people don't live in an area like that, though.
you are the most excellent dress detective
so real youtube.!!
your shiesty behavior needs to be next
Oh my gosh RUclips! 🎥
hmmmm why are you not working RUclips employee.....
here before this blows up (lol)
Excellent work and analysis. I love how you went deep with searching the related content, companies, models, customers, it s very professional. Now that is what called real content creation! Thank you!
On behalf of every gal that's been weirded out and gained trust issues from browsing experiences like these, I thank you for your service. 😭🙏🏼
The way you tracked down everything right down to the repeated "reviews" - AMAZINGLY SATISFYING
don’t get me wrong I LOVE safiya’s wish videos but seeing this video and her looking more into the very fishy and very unethical companies makes me so happy. i’m so happy that she has not only mentioned how the other websites have a very unethical business model, she spent so much time tracking down the real content creators and calling out the bad practises of sites we love and are complicit in all of this. genuinely thank you safiya, I look forward to you taking down the man in more videos in the future 🙏
I was seriously impressed and grateful to hear/see this. I've been scammed, bought some really crappy clothes from companies with questionable "return" policies that don't honor them when I wanted to return within 30 days. So glad to be pointed to the original and better/real product. Thand you, Safiya
I came to the comments to say the exact same thing as you. Her wish/shein/etc videos are super entertaining and fun, but seeing her explicitly saying that she does *not* endorse sites like AliExpress and bundling it in with the other fast fashion sites made me respect her even more.
This is a great way to demonstrate media literacy - the way new social media platforms are willing to exploit users' content and share ads with scam sites needs to be spotlighted so younger consumers understand the risks involved with these areas of the Internet.
This just gave me an idea of what to do with the 13-year-olds in my class (I'm teaching computer science, and part of the curriculum is about media literacy). I already can imagine their surprised Pikachu faces when they start to dig deep.
my eyes finally identified whats different in your videos compared to others. the double vertical screen! i love it. very thoughtful.
Thank you Safiya, you just saved me from the worst boredom of my life.
literally
real as fuck
YES SHE DID!
I know
I wanted to see her to melt the dresses into one
These dropshipping scammers are so many levels of disgusting, and Safiya did such a great job explaining it. Stealing art from designers and the likeness of others is horrible, and I appreciate the conversation this opens up
isn't tik tok chinese? i mean they sometimes litteraly produce the knock off in the same factory that they do the real designer product. and they have no issue with that.
@flirtinggracefullplatypus8496 yes Tiktok is a Chinese company owned by China. Many people don't know that.
Just a note that it's not just clothes. This happens with wigs, with makeup, with manicure/nail polish products, perfume, skincare, and on and on and on. You really have to be careful.
And make up and skincare can be so so dangerous.. at least clothes just look cheap. But i have to spend a good amount of time making sure my products are authentic.
Electronics, etc.
Art supplies
you can tell a website is a scam when they say “24 hours to get 50% off!!!” and then u go on the website 24 hours later and the timer reset lmao
Very late to this video - thank you for doing the leg work for us on exposing these scams! I am more glad everyday that I have refused to engage with tiktok, short form content from creators that I actually care about ends up on other platforms regardless and I have spared myself wading through this mess!
"Floral Bustier Midriff Waist Shaper Dress"--uh oh, looks like Wish is trying to get back into Safiya's life!
You really have to give respect to Safiya and her team cause the effort they put into producing these videos are astronomical. The research, the tracking down, the statistics, the filming and editing. it’s all so well thought out and well-executed it really feels like a project more than just a RUclips video. It’s amazing
It's disgusting how TikTok and Instagram just let all this slide. I knew this kind of thing happened but I honestly didn't realise how bad it is, especially with these scammers stealing creators content. I know I'll be WAY more careful where I buy from in future! Great video!
Well yeah because they are lining their pockets with the money from those bogus ads.
I am learning so much about shopping websites scams thanks to you. I won’t make the same mistakes again. I now see the red flags from the previous times I have been scammed from shopping online.
Safiya! I've not even finished the video yet but NEEDED to pop down here to the comments to give all the props to you and your team for your amazing investigative work and thoroughly detailed analysis of these scams going on. This seems like a talent of yours (and team!), even the way you presented your findings was so engaging and easy to understand and follow. It would be great to see what other videos you could develop using this investigative angle to help us out! Even branching out from online fashion scams, but perhaps covering other topics too :)
i agree! i also love her voice for narration
She used to write/produce for BuzzFeed.
I think it’s really good that you document the shady practices of these companies and how they screw over consumers. Because clearly this information is not gonna be available online anywhere else. Amazing video! And amazing warning TikTok users of these scams:)
Well, this information has been out there for a while, but I'm glad she's sharing it with a wider audience of people who wouldn't usually research these things on their own.
This exist outside of Tik Tok too
Thought this was going to be a funny "What I ordered VS what i got" video and it ended up becoming an investigate Dateline and I'm here for it. Seriously appreciate your depth of content and the time and money you put into these!
Same.
You really did an awesome job of getting to the bottom of what’s going on in these ads & pulling apart these companies that the majority of us women get “duped” by & make purchases from. Thank you for being thorough with all ur findings as well!!! ❤ 🙌🏼
I actually still see these ads for this sundress on RUclips. I could tell they were a scam, but couldn't find the ACTUAL dress anywhere. So thank you Safiya for creating this video to both tell me where the original dress is from AND spread awareness for these disgusting scams!
Insanely problematic. I would hate to have my image/ likeness stolen/ used in order to advertise & sell something I don't endorse. I feel for those who are basically victims of the schemes.
I'm so incredibly tired of scammers in *every* form!
Great work Safiya and team 👏🏻
Very well said!!! I agree 100%!
@@cococourtney7239 Thank you 😊
Now A.I. is doing the same with actors/actresses.
@u.r. I worked for a photographer for a number of years when I was younger (as things were phasing out from film to digital and hand retouching was replaced by photoshopping, etc) and even though the proofs and other pics had the copyright stamped right on the photo, ppl would still try to get copies.
True, I had my negatives/photo idea stolen from my photography exam display (the course leaders insisted we submit our negatives "for proof"; then proceeded to question whether our submissions were real; casing aspersions about our genuineness)@@u.r.
There HAS to be a way for social media companies to be held liable for this BS. I'm so tired of all these ads and about 80% of them being scams. Facebook, TikTok, Instagram etc---THEY should be vetting ads. This is unacceptable and the main reason I'll NEVER purchase from ads I see on social media. Which really sucks for small businesses trying to get their product out there.
I worked for a "small business" for a while, it was all cheap overseas plastic garbage with a new tag, claimed to be handmade. Always do a picture search when buying stuff and just go buy the cheapest one if you don't want to be ripped off.
I mean, these fake companies pay TikTok and Meta for their ads. No way they're going to stop taking money.
as someone who bought the peachy charm dress after seeing an IG ad, i will say that it’s actually super good quality and did come with a lace up corset back! fast fashion is not sustainable in the long run, but i’m glad this is a dress that will last me a long time!
The way LaRobe was like - this is not the dress for you Safiya, we have one you'll like much more, is hilarious in the midst of all the scamminess!
This is the funniest take
Um damn. I'm really impressed. I've never seen one of your vids before and I clicked on this just thinking it would be a simple "I ordered the same stuff from different places, let's see how they're different!" I did not expect this full blown investigation and analysis. Quality work, Safiya! You genuinely earned my like and subscription.
I really wish people would stop buying from these cheap stores. I mean, beyond just the risk of being scammed, it perpetuates so many negative things. Scam industry, child labor, slavery (damn near, if not actual), pollution (during production and when the item is thrown away), small business attrition, etc., etc. I know not everyone has the income to buy the real deal all the time... but if you don't have the income for that, do you really need another dress?
LITERALLY ME. The reason I clicked it, but she definitely gained a subscriber right away!
Me too. Great effort and journalism!
This has completely valifated my resistance to buying anything on tiktok. I knew the shop feature would just be a scam. Because if regular peoples content can be stolen a thousand time over, why wouldn't they steal content for advertising too.
Absolutely incredible and thorough work from you and Tyler!
The only things I will buy from there is stuff that's very clearly made by the seller, like 3d prints they don't also sell elsewhere
12:28 As someone who was just in grease, crying laughing rn