TikTok’s Hype House has been accused of scamming its fans

As Hype House announces its move to TV with an upcoming series titled The Hype Life, members of the TikTok collective have been accused of scamming their fans with a new merch promotion.

On Tuesday (August 11), the LA collective dropped their new bedazzled Hype Chain necklace with co-founder Thomas Petrou advertising the necklace on Instagram as “free”. The merch site also claims that the chains are worth $100 and fans are allowed one chain per order – though “if you want multiple free chains, make multiple orders”.

While influencers can technically charge whatever they want for their merch, it’s not clear how the $100 price was determined. Fans also took to Twitter to point out the unusually high shipping price.

“This is the Free + shipping scheme where the product costs wholesale @ $1.50 and they charge for it in the shipping SO IT NOT FREE!!” YouTuber Vice Versa said in a tweet, adding: “Oldest ecom game in the book.”

Twitter user @DefNoodles pointed out that when the same $20 shipping cost was applied to different mailing addresses in Miami, NYC, a “mailing chain of similar weight can cost as low as $3.80, according to USPS”.

“The thing that bothers me about this hype house chain scam is that Thomas knows the hype house has a younger audience, so he knew they’d buy into the whole ‘it’s free’ scenario,” user @frenchxxy added. “He’s literally manipulating them. Sketchy as hell if u ask me.”

If you think that’s mad, read this anonymous LA influencer’s absolutely deranged PA job description – you’re welcome.