How scammers are using AI to lure shoppers to fake businesses
53 minutes ago Share Save Alice Cullinane Birmingham Share Save
C'est La Vie The images of "Patrick and Eileen" are among those AI-generated, experts say
Unscrupulous foreign firms are using AI-generated images and false back stories to pose as family-run UK businesses to lure in shoppers. Customers say they feel "completely ripped off" after believing they were buying from independent boutiques in England but were delivered cheap clothes and jewellery, mass-shipped from warehouses in east Asia. Among the websites is C'est La Vie, a shop purporting to be run by couple Eileen and Patrick for 29 years and based in Birmingham's historic Jewellery Quarter - but with a returns address in China. Consumer guide Which? said the growing use of AI tools was making it possible for fraudsters to mislead the public on an "unprecedented" scale.
Another website appearing to use AI-generated images is Mabel
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