Shopee Philippines denies ‘scam’ in BLACKPINK meet and greet event

MANILA, Philippines – Shopee Philippines on Friday, June 14, denied allegations that they had duped fans of K-pop group BLACKPINK over a meet-and-greet event hosted by the e-commerce platform.

“The revocation of the tickets of some BLACKPINK fans was the result of a system error and not due to a change in promotional mechanics,” Shopee Philippines said in a statement released to media.

Shopee also claimed it did not change contest mechanics for the event, held on Thursday, June 6.

The mechanics initially stated those who were among the 568 Top Shopee spenders for cumulative purchases within the period of May 11 to May 25 would get one pass to the event. Of the 568, the Top 40 would be given a chance to receive autographs from BLACKPINK on stage.

In the terms and conditions, it was specified that participants in the promo needed to spend a minimum of P4,000 to qualify as a top spender. 

However, fans angrily claimed that the site changed the terms and conditions on June 5, a day before the event, to say that orders must be received and completed by May 25, 11:59 pm, when it originally stated a June 1 deadline.

Shopee’s statement comes ahead of the release of the DTI probe into the incident.

“An internal system error led to some initial inaccuracies in the automatically generated winner list, and 119 incorrectly issued tickets had to be revoked as a result. We took immediate steps as soon as we discovered the error to ensure the rightful winners could claim their prizes,” they said.

Shopee also said it did not reallocate tickets meant for fans to media and influencers – a sore point for BLACKPINK fans, collectively called Blinks.

“We understand that fans are frustrated and upset at this, particularly in light of other issues concerning the Shopee X BLACKPINK meet-and-greet. Following this incident, we are reviewing all of our processes and working to ensure that our future campaigns are enjoyable for all participants and Shopee users,” Shopee added.

Shopee said that they have been working closely with the DTI to provide a “full refund to affected users as a token of goodwill.”

They also said that they have already reached out to the 119 affected fans who were incorrectly told that they had won tickets but were eventually unable to attend the event.

As of Friday, June 14, Shopee said that each fan has been offered a “full refund of the costs incurred as part of their participation in the campaign, including the amount spent on Shopee during the campaign and travel costs if they traveled from outside of Metro Manila.” – Rappler.com