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<\/p>\nPETALING JAYA: It may seem like a good bargain online. But it comes with serious risks, as counterfeit medicines and supplements are still being sold on e-commerce platforms despite ongoing crackdowns.<\/p>\n
TikTok Shop Malaysia said medicines and supplements are subject to requirements, inclu\u00adding the need for a MAL number or notification from the National Pharma\u00ad\u00adceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), before being lis\u00adted.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough our Intellectual Property Protection Centre, brands or authorised representatives can submit takedown requests for products and monitor their status.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no finish line when it comes to safety. Users are encou\u00adraged to report these products, content and sellers through the in-app reporting channel,\u201d said a spokesperson.<\/p>\n
TikTok Shop Malaysia is wor\u00adking with the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry and Health Ministry to address evolving forms of circumvention.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said conti\u00adnuous investments are made to improve safety tools, technology and personnel, with more than US$1bil committed globally to protect users from fraudulent and dangerous activities.<\/p>\n
Automated systems are also used to detect potential fraud, infringement, unsafe content or violative product listings, both before and after products or content are uploaded.<\/p>\n
\u201cSellers must submit official documentation during registration, which is then verified against business and banking details to ensure authenticity.<\/p>\n
\u201cStore names are subject to strict guidelines to prevent misrepresentation, including restrictions on terms such as \u2018official\u2019, \u2018flagship\u2019 or \u2018authorised\u2019,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Once approved, new sellers undergo a probationary period where daily orders and product listings are capped as they fami\u00adliarise themselves with platform policies.<\/p>\n
Between January and June this year, it said more than 70 million product listing attempts were rejected globally for policy violations, with a proactive removal rate exceeding 99.5%.<\/p>\n
Some 1.4 million seller account registration applications that failed to meet its standards were declined, with more than 700,000 sellers removed during the same period due to shop-level violations.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 900,000 reports from users viewing TikTok Shop videos or live streams were also reviewed,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Shopee strictly prohibits the sale of counterfeit and prohibited items too, requiring all sellers to comply with local regulations and platform policies.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said the platform works closely with the Malaysian Pharmacists Society (MPS) to verify pharmacies and actively remove listings that violate its rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are committed to building a safe and trusted platform where shoppers can transact with confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also use proactive monitoring and work with brands, law enforcement and the Health Ministry to detect and take action against sellers breaching our policies, including account suspension, permanent bans and, where appropriate, legal action.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsers are encouraged to report suspicious or counterfeit pro\u00adducts via the \u2018Report this Product\u2019 option.\u201d<\/p>\n
Complaints can also be made to the Public Complaints Manage\u00adment System (SISPAA), which is used to manage public complaints, including reports of fake or unregistered medicines.<\/p>\n
MPS president Amrahi Buang said all pharmaceutical products sold online must be registered with the Health Ministry and comply with laws including the Poisons Act, Sale of Drugs Act and the Medicines (Advertisement & Sale) Act and Regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cLegitimate products have the Health Ministry hologram tag and the MAL number,\u201d he said, \u00adadding that the number can be checked at the NPRA website.<\/p>\n
He said MPS also signed a memo\u00adrandum of understanding (MOU) with an e-commerce platform to curb the sale of counterfeit drugs online.<\/p>\n
There are several conditions to be fulfilled when applying to open an online store as per the MOU, including having a licensed pharmacist, ensuring the pro\u00adducts sold online can be tied to a physical store and confirming that the pharmacist is an MPS member.<\/p>\n
\u201cPharmacists can check if the product is legitimate and advise you.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t just sell drugs. We want the best for our customers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PETALING JAYA: It may seem like a good bargain online. But it comes with serious risks, as counterfeit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,59234,92928,101984,137,311687,490,275698,171981,311689,311688,311690,311686],"class_list":["post-644104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-counterfeit-medicines","tag-e-commerce-platforms","tag-fraud-detection","tag-health","tag-intellectual-property-protection","tag-medication","tag-national-pharmaceutical-regulatory-agency","tag-online-pharmacy-regulations","tag-product-authenticity","tag-seller-verification","tag-shopee-policies","tag-tiktok-shop-malaysia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}