Customers lose thousands to a TikTok store that never delivers

On July 23, Nanu Maya B.K. of Hupseykot, Nawalparasi (East), ordered a T-shirt and a skirt for her daughter from a TikTok account called Laxmi Collection Store. She was asked to pay Rs 900 in advance and was told that her order would be delivered the following day.

After she transferred the money, the store claimed it had not received the payment due to a technical issue. It then asked B.K. to send a seven-day bank statement. She complied, unknowingly revealing all her financial transactions for the past week.

The store later called her and asked her to resend the payment, this time by entering a specific code in both the remarks section and the amount field. She followed the instructions. Soon after, Rs 27,000 was withdrawn from her bank account.

“I tried to call them immediately, but they had already blocked me,” says B.K.

A week later, she received a call from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as a police officer and told her, “We have your money. We will return it to you, but you have to share your screen with us.” She complied. The caller then instructed her not to use her mobile banking app for at least 24 hours.

Soon afterwards, she began receiving SMS notifications that money was being withdrawn from her account. When she tried to access her mobile banking app, she found that she could no longer log in. This time, the store had also compromised her mobile banking account.

B.K. has filed a police complaint against the incident.   

According to Yubaraj Khadka, SP at the District Police Office, Nawalparasi (East), the case is under investigation. Similarly, he also informed that the cases of online scams via social media accounts are increasing. 

However, B.K. is not alone. Another victim, Chiring Limjom Lama of Boudha, was also scammed by the same store. Lama’s sister had ordered a shirt and a skirt from the store, but due to a technical issue, Lama made the payment on her sister’s behalf.

The store used a similar method to defraud Lama. In total, Rs 53,000 was withdrawn from her bank account. Unlike in B.K.’s case, however, the store did not gain access to Lama’s mobile banking account.  Recently, the store has been contacting Lama again, claiming they will return her money if she enters a code into her mobile banking app. Suspecting another scam attempt, she has not complied. 

The TikTok account of Laxmi Collection Store has more than 35,000 followers and regularly posts videos showcasing women’s and children’s clothing, giving the impression of a legitimate online business. Some of its videos have garnered millions of views, and many users in the comments express interest in purchasing the advertised products.  

There are also comments from users sharing their negative experiences with the account and urging others to stay away from it.

One comment by a user named Biren Lama reads, “They are frauds. Do not fall into their trap.”

Similarly, another comment by a user named Christian Girl reads, “Please, everyone, do not order anything from here. They will scam you. They looted my Rs 28,000. Stay away from this page.” 

One tactic they use is communicating with customers through different phone numbers, even though all customers initially contact the store using the same number listed on its TikTok page. 

These are just two representative cases. Under many of the store’s videos, several users have commented that they were scammed, while others have warned people not to buy anything from the account.

Another woman from Kathmandu, who requested anonymity, also said she was scammed by the same store. She said the store asked her to make an advance payment of Rs 900, which she did. Later, the sellers claimed they had not received the payment and asked her to send a bank statement. She shared only the section showing the transaction she had made to the store, rather than her full bank statement.

After receiving the document, the sellers stopped responding. Recently, however, they contacted her again, asking her to make another payment through a message on WhatsApp.

Onlinekhabar attempted to contact the store using the phone number listed on its TikTok account, but received no response. 

According to recent official data from Cyber Bureau, total reported complaints involving cybercrime and fraud peaked at 20,526 cases in fiscal year 2025/026, up from 18,926 cases in FY 2024/025 and 19,730 cases in FY 2023/024. Cybercrime applications consistently formed the vast majority of all registered complaints over the three years, registering 15,576 cases in FY 2023/024, 11,186 in FY 2024/025, and rebounding to 13,230 in FY 2025/026. 

Meanwhile, fraud complaints rose significantly from 4,154 cases in FY 2023/024 to 7,740 cases in FY 2025/025, remaining high at 7,296 cases in FY 2025/026. 

Cyber Bureau’s spokesperson and Police Superintendent (SP) Dilip Giri says that the one who does pre-payment are mostly found to be scammed. 

“While ordering anything online, pre-payment should be totally avoided,” says Giri. “ One should always do cash on delivery.” 

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