A mystery influencer has been accused of stealing from an independent jewellery shop based in Sydney’s northern beaches, and the internet is buzzing with allegations on who the culprit could be.
Earlier this week, AussieTok was set alight after Luna Rae co-founder Amy Bradley shared a video accusing an unnamed influencer of stealing a “$360, uniquely designed necklace” from her boutique.
According to Bradley, the influencer bought the necklace via Luna Rae’s Shopify. However, after they sent out the product, the influencer requested a refund claiming they never received their order. As a result, Bradley was without the money and the necklace.
“A customer purchased a diamond and gold necklace. It was $360. She bought it, all went well, and we sent it out fine,” Bradley began in the viral video.
“Several weeks later, our Shopify account came to us and said, ‘The customer’s done a chargeback on this. She never got it.’ This was news to us. The customer has never reached out, she never called and said, ‘Where’s my order?’.
“So we went back and we were like, ‘Here’s the tracking. She got it two days later.’ Somehow, I’m not sure how she did it, she proved to them that she never got the product and they favoured with her. She got the chargeback approved and got refunded.
“We lost the necklace, we lost the money.”
After the ordeal with Shopify, Bradley claimed she came across the customer’s TikTok page where she was donning the uniquely made necklace, confirming that she did in-fact recieve the product.
“We kept looking into it, and we found the customer on TikTok. And guess what she’s got all over her neck? Our $360, uniquely designed necklace. We know it’s our necklace, and she’s wearing it in all of her TikToks. She is an influencer. She has been on a reality show. Who does that?” Bradley continued.
“There was no gifting. She just bought it as a regular customer, got it, claimed back, got the money back, took the necklace, is wearing it on her socials.”
With the internet being the internet, netizens quickly flooded the comments with who they believed was the culprit. However, others told Bradley to consult the correct authorities rather than posting on TikTok
“Please consult with lawyers, not TikTok,” one person wrote.
“Isn’t that fraud? Report to police. Sooner or later, she will get caught,” another penned.
“It’s fraud. Save the videos, file a police report, and contact Shopify with the evidence. She will absolutely be held accountable, and she SHOULD. She’s probably done this to others before. She will do it again. I don’t care how much money it was, I’d be outraged,” wrote a third.
Luna Rae shares update on alleged influencer thief
A day after posting the first video, Bradley returned to the platform to admit she was “ragey” over the alleged incident.
“I posted this TikTok this morning on my way to work. I was a bit ragey, I’ve been really losing sleep over this customer who bought a necklace,” Bradley shared.
The co-founder went on to explain that she posted the TikTok thinking other small businesses would be able to give her advice on what to do in this situation. However, she didn’t expect the video to go viral, stating the response from the public is “a little bit out of control”.
“It’s getting a little bit out of control, though, because people are now tagging influencers that they think it is,” Bradley continued.
“People are going onto people’s pages, they’re sending us DMs. People are getting really crazy about it and people are like, ‘they want blood.’ It’s really full on, and I very much appreciate the support of a small brand, I really do. But we can’t tag influencers that have nothing to do with this. Like, none of these people are this person.”
Bradley went on to say she didn’t “name and shame” the influencer because she can’t assume that the public will be “respectful and kind” to the person. She revealed she’s downloaded the influencer’s content featuring the necklace and that she’s going to give them an “opportunity to pay” for the item. Despite this, Bradley confirmed that she will be reporting the influencer to the police.
“We never expected everyone to get so involved, but wow, like all you little detectives out there, thanks for giving us a hand, but yeah, we can’t be naming and tagging influencers because that’s not okay,” Bradley said.
While Bradley put out a PSA to stop viewers from accusing influencers, unfortunately, a handful of major content creators were tagged and dragged in Luna Rae’s video, with some claiming they’re the alleged thief.
This included Matty Hey (@alright.hey), MAFS star Jessika Power (@jessika_power123) and Season Seven MAFS bride Vanessa Aromito (@vanessaromito13).
Australian entertainment powerhouse Abbie Chatfield (@abbiechatfield) was also dragged into what she’s dubbed a “conspiracy theory”.
Abbie Chatfield responds to necklace-gate
After a TikTok user commented on one Chatfield’s videos “you like your free necklace”, the It’s A Lot podcast host tackled the allegations head-on in multiple videos.
In one TikTok, Chatfield took aim at the allegations, stating she was accused of theft due to her “outspoken” personality.
“Wow, like people will assume that I stole a necklace, I committed a crime because they see an outspoken woman. Like we see women not adhering to societal standards and people then go, ‘It must be Abbie Chatfield that committed a crime, that stole from a small business’. When if you actually look at my politics, I’m all about supporting small businesses,” Chatfield said.
“Like, the accusations every single day about me make me genuinely get to the verge of like, a nervous breakdown. Like, I am so sick of being accused of things I did not do. Every day, I see a lie about myself on the internet. And now these people who don’t like me are now saying it must’ve been Abbie Chatfield that committed a crime. When have I ever committed a crime?”
While viewers have continued to speculate on who the alleged thieving influencer is, other users have slammed Luna Rae for not clearing content creators who’ve been mentioned in their comments. Some have also accused the small business of faking the story in some kind of nuclear PR stunt.
However, in another video, Chatfield defended the Aussie-owned business, stating she doesn’t think was Bradley’s fault for not wanting to name and shame the culprit.
“Yeah, love the support, but I don’t think it’s actually the business’s fault. I think by looking at those videos like the owner — I think it’s the owner — genuinely was trying to not make anyone be bullied or attacked or harassed because she didn’t name them,” Chatfield said.
“I think that she just didn’t think, because a normal person, who the owner seems to be, wouldn’t think, ‘Oh, if I don’t name the person, all these influencers are going to be blamed.’ You know what I mean? Like, I think that’s a normal thing to think, ‘Oh, if I don’t name anyone, then I’m not hurting anyone,’ which is reasonable,” she continued.
“But what the owner doesn’t realise, because she’s probably normal, is how not normal the internet is. So, who’s really to blame is people blaming me in comments and lying about me in comments. So, love the support, but I don’t think the business really are like to blame for really much of it.”
Under the same video, in which Chatfield defended Bradley for making a video calling out the influencer, Luna Rae apologised to the reality TV juggernaut.
“We are sorry you’ve been blamed for this! Thank you so much for seeing it how we also see it,” Luna Rae penned.
Luna Rae issues final video on necklace-gate
In one final post, Bradley cleared Hey, Power, Romito and Chatfield’s name from the scandal before doubling down and refusing to name and shame the actual culprit.
“Okay, last and final TikTok on this. This is like you people are mean. God, so many people are supportive, but far out, like everyone just wants to assume the worst in people,” Bradley began.
“Abbie Chatfield, Jessica Power, Alright Hey, Vanessa Romito, everyone else everybody has named. No, definitely not. They haven’t done it.
“We never asked of this. I was just a brand owner giving an opinion on something shitty and everyone has taken it so far.”
Further in the video, Bradley slammed assumptions the whole debacle was a PR stunt, stating she was only trying to “address the issue” with her TikTok video.
“We’re just trying to address an issue that happens for brands. We wanted to give everybody a resolution,” Bradley continued.
“We came so far on a resolution today. We found out there was a company involved. We talked to the company. We found out who the person is. We’ve got them calling us. But, you guys, it’s just gone so far. We’re done. We’re closing it off. We already know it’s getting reported. We don’t even care about the money anymore.”
Bradley went on reiterate that they’re just a small company and took aim at trolls who are out there to “pull women down instead of raising them up”.
While the alleged thief / influencer has yet to be publicly identified, the brand has copped some flack from viewers, with many continuing to accuse Luna Rae of orchestrating a viral PR stunt ahead of their sixth birthday sale.
As a messy girl who froths drama, I of course would love to know who was the sneaky person who pulled this stunt for an exxy necklace but at the same time I also cannot help but feel sad for Luna Rae as a small business.
That being said, Luna Rae hasn’t posted anything regarding necklace-gate and honestly, with that backlash, I doubt that they’ll post anything regarding the mishap anytime soon.
The post Sydney Business Sparks TikTok Frenzy After Claiming An Influencer Stole A $360 Necklace appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
