Necklace Gate. Every backyard cyber sleuth and her cat is looking for the influencer that stole the LunaRae necklace

Time for Tea! TikTok Detectives have ripped a variety of innocent Reality TV stars TO SHREDS online after an Australian small business owner disclosed, that a necklace had been stolen from them, by a popular influencer on Tiktok. They say that a reality TV show influencer reversed a transaction on Shopify, claiming to not have received the product.

LunaRae claims the influencer had the necklace “all over her neck” in her videos on TikTok.

The public was given a handful of ‘crumbs as clues’ and took it upon themselves (in true TikTok style) to name the criminal in a witch hunt against all Australian Reality TV stars with a following. Anyone wearing a necklace got death threats.

For a business who clearly refers to their “Social Media Girl” in subsequent videos: REAL TALK. I’ve been a ‘Social Media Girl’ before and nothing – N O T H I N G – I mean NOTHING (high voice “yeah nothing!”) gets posted without my approval. When a business has a social media manager – they direct the show, edit and press post. Here’s the original video:

In my opinion, after 3 days with no clarity it kinda does looks like poorly thought through PR stunt with pretty editing. What do you think.

Too many people were falsely name shamed in this scandal. They were targeted and threatened on their videos by the TikTok people police looking for justice – but most of all, a good story. Especially following the JL Patisserie scandal! It’s not rocket science for any small business to want to jump on a viral trend of cancelling influencers online and reaping the same kind of reward to the tune of 400K in new followers like JL did.

LunaRae had the perfect cancel influencer “storytime” for everyone who’s still razzed up after the JL scandal.

Over the last 2 days there has been a subsequent shift the narrative from LunaRae, begging viewers and armchair detectives to stop looking for the thief and to stop threatening reality TV show stars. She went on to name a few of the TikTok creators as innocent and to say that so far the thief had not been named.

Well, we all crossed our arms at that point and sat back in our seats “RECEEEEIPTS” we scream. We want the tea.

So far, no receipts or evidence have been provided by the Australian jewellery brand. The lack of evidence is how the onslaught began and so far, the brand has not taken accountability for the pain and trauma the death threats and vicious trolling of innocent people has caused. They are the real victims in this.

Also, it didn’t take Australia long to run out of options for reality stars who are also influencers with a social media following. So critics now allege that the entire story was a calculated fabricated stunt to generate viral attention, launching the ploy just in time for their latest birthday sale. Which happened to be the next post: the one AFTER the one with 2.7 MILLION views. Yeah that one.

The backfire and backlash has been extraordinary and has spread like wildfire over the platform. The lack of accountability from LunaRae has angered viewers. Even the smaller creators are keeping us up to date like @becwatto – she has her finger on the pulse of this story – we want a name or to know the honest truth about the storytime.

All Jokes Aside. Let’s Look at this Together: from a Business Marketing Perspective

The Sequence of Claims

• On Day 1 the business claimed: “to our knowledge the item was delivered / influencer reversed transaction / LunaRae got robbed / the influencer is wearing the necklace in all her videos”
• Over subsequent posts, TikTok reporters say her story changed slightly. Allegedly, the influencer in question has only a small following, they aren’t well known and her account is private. Hang on, how did LunaRae see her videos? We don’t know the details. This is a red flag for PR spin and the TikTok army are eating it up.
• The timing coincided with the brand’s biggest sale launch, suggesting possible motive to “drive engagement”

Staging the Spectacle: How Marketing Plays Dirty on Tiktok

• Brands sometimes use provocative claims or “drama” to get free eyes on their ads, especially on platforms like Tiktok or Instagram where algorithms reward virality and shock factor.
• The dramatization of being wronged (victim narrative) can rally fans, spark discussions, or divert attention from brand flaws.
• If done carelessly, such tactics cross into deceptive marketing, especially if consumers are misled.

Again, this all unfolded the day before their sale. Which was extended due to popularity.

Why It’s Risky and Possibly Illegal

• Under Australia’s consumer protection laws, misleading or deceptive representations are prohibited. If the brand knowingly propagated a false claim, it could be held liable so it’s unlikely LunaRae would have participated in a deceitful act due to the nature of their small family business. This is their 6th birthday and they are having a sale to celebrate that
• Investors, regulators or consumer watchdogs may view staged drama as manipulation, especially if tied to financial motives.
• Brand trust is fragile: once an audience views a company as dishonest, recovering reputation is hard.

What Doesn’t Add Up

• No verifiable proof has been published so far. The brand hasn’t supplied receipts, bank statements, reversal notices. It’s becoming a trainwreck that no one wants to look away from.
• A change in narrative to downplay, suggests editorial lead, not organic confusion.
• No independent confirmation from neutral third parties.
• Promotional alignment: the stunt launched right before or during a sale (classic timing for engineered buzz)

What This Means for Consumers

• Be skeptical of brand scandals and skits that conveniently benefit the brand and position themselves as the victim.
• Request transparency: if a claim seems dramatic, ask to see proof (banking, contracts, messages)
• Track discourse over time. If the brand tightens control, deletes videos, switches up statments: these can all indicate red flag behaviour.

What began as a dramatic ‘reverse chargeback’ with a sweet little storytime narrative has now switched flavour to one of a sharp and spicy manufactured controversy.

If LunaRae did stage this stunt, they walked a perilous line between clever marketing and deceptive fiction.

Which is unlikely.

The true test will be whether they ever come forward to substantiate their claim or if independent investigators and consumers can force the truth out.

The TikTok community is eating drama for breakfast lunch and TEA this week and we jumped from one controversy to another and the fans are HERE for it.

In our opinion though – this one is dragging out.

We want receipts. Innocent people have received death threats because LunaRae made an unsubstantiated claim based on heresay and the public ran with it.

Make a claim? Back it up. We want to see the receipts of the chargeback with the influencer’s name hidden. We’ll wait