Don't let fake AI images ruin your Christmas shopping

One in 10 people feel very confident in identifying AI-generated (created using Artificial Intelligence) adverts on social media, and more than half worry that they or a family member could be scammed as a result, research carried out by Santander finds.

The bank warned that last year, £16.7m was lost by its customers to purchase scams, which is where you buy something online that doesn't exist or doesn't meet expectations. 

As part of its research, Santander created 10 AI-generated social media adverts to demonstrate how realistic and convincing they can be and found that three quarters of Brits weren't able to correctly identify a fake AI-generated social media advert.

It also found that more than half of Gen Z customers said they had spotted a fake AI-generated advert on social media before, and one in six lost money as a result of these types of fake ads.

Which? has warned of the prevalence of AI-generated fake shopping adverts numerous times, and once again, we have found more lurking on social media.

Read on to find out what Which? found on Meta, how to spot a fake shopping ad and how to protect yourself from scams. 

Dodgy AI adverts on Meta

Which? discovered eight dodgy adverts on Facebook and Instagram promoting a fashion store called Mabel & Daisy.

At first, these ads looked like typical online shopping posts, but on closer inspection, we noticed that the images were a little too perfect and cartoonish.

Hundreds of Trustpilot reviews of the website linked to the ads detail receiving items that weren’t as described, with the product’s quality being unsatisfactory. Reviewers also complain about only being offered a percentage refund and being asked to send items back to China at their own expense. In some cases, this costs more than the refund amount.

The about us page included an image of what was claimed to be ‘Mabel & Daisy,’ the duo behind the brand. Which? carried out a reverse image search on this photo and found the same image used across five other retail sites on their about us page, implying that they are the founders for all of these companies, but they all had different names. 

Each website told a similar background story of a mother and daughter who started a fashion brand to ‘make women feel confident,’ with one of the brands claiming to be London-based. The websites were all created within the past few months.

This isn't the first time a warning has been shared about this apparent retailer. In October, the BBC reported on similar concerns about Mabel & Daisy.

Which? contacted Mabel & Daisy about our findings and didn’t receive a response. 

We also shared our findings with Meta and the ads we flagged for violating its policies. It also told us that it doesn’t allow fraudulent activity, including those that use AI-generated content to deceive users and takes action when these are brought to its attention.

How to spot and avoid scam ads

AI-generated content is getting harder to spot and is a popular tool for scammers, as it can be terrifyingly good at creating slick adverts and websites. 

If you're tempted by an online advert, you should do your research before you part with any money. Watch out for:

• Images that look too perfect, cartoonish or overly airbrushed. Use an image search tool to see if it appears elsewhere. We used Google in our search and it quickly found that the images appeared elsewhere, which suggested the website wasn't genuine.
• Always be wary of offers or claims which sound unrealistic or too good to be true - flash sales with heavy discounts, exclusive offers for sold-out goods or bargain deals are all red flags.
• Website addresses that differ from what you'd expect. Look up the website's address on who.is to see when they were created. Newly created websites are almost always a red flag.
• Multiple reviews of the company claim that customers were scammed or received items that weren't as described, and those customers weren't able to get a refund.

You can report scam ads on Facebook and Instagram by clicking the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of the ad and selecting ‘report.’

If you lose any money to a scam, call your bank immediately using the number on the back of your bank card and report it to Action Fraud, or call the police on 101 if you’re in Scotland.