Weapons together with knives and axes have been offered on the buying app Temu with none age checks going down, a client group has discovered.

Which? discovered some weapons on sale for as little £4.48.

Researchers additionally discovered weapons they consider to be unlawful on the market on Temu together with two folding knives, two knives disguised as keyrings, a survival knife and a baton.

These weapons are classed as banned weapons beneath the Criminal Justice Act, Which? mentioned. Anyone caught with considered one of them may face arrest and a jail sentence, and so they may simply fall into the flawed arms, the group added.

In whole, researchers recognized six weapons they believed to be unlawful and had been in a position to purchase seven age-restricted merchandise – 5 knives and two axes – with none age checks; however mentioned they noticed dozens of different listings with merchandise that regarded like they may doubtlessly trigger hurt.

Temu was solely launched in September 2022, however has rapidly develop into one of the crucial fashionable on-line marketplaces worldwide. In the UK it was probably the most downloaded app for the yr to August.

Which? mentioned the dearth of controls to cease youngsters buying age-restricted gadgets and even what it mentioned had been unlawful weapons was significantly regarding given how extensively marketed Temu is on websites like TikTok.

The group is asking for Temu to enhance its checking system, take away harmful gadgets and maintain third-party sellers to account the place breaches are discovered.

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“Problems with dangerous products are only going to get worse if new tech giants like Temu continue to be held to weaker standards than high-street retailers,” mentioned Sue Davies, Which? head of client safety coverage.

“The online marketplace needs to improve its checks, monitoring and takedown processes, and ensure third-party sellers cannot list these dangerous items – particularly to young people under the age of 18.”

A Temu spokesperson mentioned: “Temu is committed to complying fully with relevant rules and regulations in all of the markets that we operate in, and we take all reports of violations very seriously.

“After receiving a grievance of an individual beneath 18 buying a bladed article from our platform, we instantly eliminated all associated product listings.

“We also initiated a comprehensive investigation and review of our processes to further strengthen our safeguards and prevent similar cases from occurring again.”