Kimstore Trending News: Customs Raids Warehouse, Netizens React

Hector Martinez via Unsplash

Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon and his team received and acted on intelligence reports that online shop Kim Store was importing and selling high-end devices under suspicious arrangements.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Monday raided a high-end gadgets warehouse with tech devices worth millions of pesos. Reports say it is owned by a certain “Francis,” a Filipino-Chinese businessman in Binondo. The business name has been identified as Kim Store, sparking reactions from netizens, who are familiar to or have ordered from the well-known Facebook-based online shop Kimstore.

Are Kimstore products smuggled? Twitterverse asks

Kimstore raid Jan. 30, 2017 — BOC received and acted on a tip that a certain “Francis” of Kim Store in Binondo had been selling high-end smartphones, laptops and other gadgets under suspicious arrangements. PHOTO: BOC

A lot of questions are being raised on Twitter about the Kimstore raid. Its products – laptops, cameras, mobile phones and other gadgets — have attracted over a million followers on Facebook alone. Some netizens are now asking if Kimstore is closing. Others are wondering why news of the Customs raid is shocking at all, i.e. there is a reason why its prices are low. See the tweets below.

The last post on Kimstore’s Facebook page is about “unforeseen need for system upgrade” and “delay with transactions made this week.” It has worried netizens waiting for their orders, but the anxiety escalated more when news about the Customs raid broke on Wednesday.

According to CNN Philippines, Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon and his team received and acted on intelligence reports that online shop Kim Store was importing and selling high-end devices under suspicious arrangements.

In its Facebook account, the shop description says: “Kimstore offers the latest gadgets online at affordable prices, and they’re all brand new, original and in complete packaging (with freebies, sometimes!) And with a Go Negosyo badge of trust, you are assured of great customer service.”

The online shop Kimstore has been delivering gadgets to online shoppers since 2006. (Update: Kimstore shop’s founder, Kim Lato, has yet to release a statement to clarify the online store’s link, or lack thereof, to the raided Kim Store warehouse. Kimstore’s Jan. 30 Facebook post about its need for system upgrade has been removed.)

Twitterverse reacts to Kimstore raid, Customs photos

While it’s not clear whether the news is about the Kimstore brand on Facebook, some Twitter users are convinced that Kim Store in the Customs raid news and Kimstore on Facebook are one and the same. Here are some of the netizens’ reactions: