Woman Finds Alleged Bug Infestation Inside SHEIN Package in Viral Video

A TikToker went viral after showing a video of her opening an alleged SHEIN package and finding a bug infestation inside the brand new clothing.

The video, posted by user Kae Alvarez or @k.arelynn on TikTok, received more than 2.8 million views and 9,600 comments since it was posted on December 3.

"I'm never buying from shein again wtf," the on-screen text read.

Alvarez explained in the comments of the video that when she took her new shirt out of the package and unfolded it she allegedly found a "nest" of bugs inside.

She said she was caught off guard because there were no bugs on the outside of the shirt but when she picked it up, the bugs started to fall out of the folds in the shirt. She said she immediately threw the infested shirt on the ground because she was surprised.

In the video, she also showed a bug crawling on her arm.

"@SHEIN please explain this because wtf ?????" the caption read. "Straight out of the package infested."

In an update video viewed more than 220,000 times, Alvarez clarified some comments from people saying they'd never had a similar situation.

"Just because it happened to me I'm not saying it's going to happen to you," Alvarez said. "So you don't have to stop buying from SHEIN because I order from them all the time."

She explained that she buys a lot of her clothes from the company and that this was the first time she's ever experienced bugs.

"Bugs were not included in every package that I got," she said. "This was the very first time that it happened to me. I've never experienced this before so obviously I'm gonna talk about it...but it could happen to someone else."

She explained that she had to talk to a robot when she tried to contact customer service about her problem and she felt the need to share her situation on TikTok. She said they finally reached out and that they would "investigate" her problem.

"People have said this has happened to them and SHEIN did nothing," the on-screen text read. "So I'm assuming I'm just another customer they won't believe. But if you guys look into this, many people actually had this bug problem because of some sort of romwe-shein dispute going on."

She also explained in the video that the package she received from SHEIN was branded for Romwe, another fast-fashion store. But Romwe was acquired by SHEIN's parent company back in 2014.

In the comments of the original video, many users warned Alvarez not to leave the shirt exposed inside her house due to the risk of infestation. Others questioned what type of bugs they were and some guessed they were fleas, Harry ants, or some sort of mite.

Alvarez told Newsweek that she thinks the bugs were ants but that she couldn't get herself to look at them long enough to figure it out because they were giving her goosebumps.

But these sorts of problems are not uncommon within the industry. In May, a customer allegedly found fleas inside a package shipped by PrettyLittleThing, another popular online clothing store. A 23-year-old woman from Manchester claimed that shortly after she opened her package she found a bug on her pillow.

After further inspection of the package, she claimed she found white bugs in the lining of the dress she purchased. She said people told her the bugs looked like carpet bugs which quickly breed and can lead to an infestation.

The company has denied any sort of infestation within their warehouses, although in February another woman went viral after claiming they found bugs inside their package.

Newsweek reached out to SHEIN for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.