Warning Issued as Scammers Use AI to Build Entirely Fake Online Stores

Consumer protection groups are issuing a new and urgent warning to online shoppers about a sophisticated new type of scam: criminals are now using artificial intelligence to create completely fake, but incredibly realistic, online businesses to lure customers and steal their money.

This is a major leap beyond the badly written scam emails of the past. Scammers are now leveraging a suite of powerful AI tools to build convincing e-commerce websites, populate them with fake products, and promote them on social media, making it harder than ever for consumers to tell the difference between a real business and a total fabrication.

With the festive shopping season approaching, consumers in Nigeria and around the world are being urged to be extra vigilant.

The AI-Powered Scammer’s Toolkit
Cybersecurity experts have identified a consistent pattern in how these fake businesses are built. Scammers are using AI to:

Generate a Fake Brand: They use AI to come up with a plausible company name, logo, and brand identity in minutes.

Create Realistic Product Photos: Instead of stealing images from real brands (which can be reverse-image searched), they are using AI image generators to create unique, high-quality, but entirely fake photos of products that don't exist.

Write Convincing Content: AI language models are used to write flawless product descriptions, "About Us" stories, and glowing customer reviews, creating a rich and believable backstory for the fake company.

Automate Social Media Promotion: Scammers deploy AI-powered social media bots to create fake accounts that follow the brand, like its posts, and leave positive comments, creating the illusion of a popular and trusted business.

The result is a professional-looking online store that can be created in a matter of hours, designed for the sole purpose of taking orders, stealing credit card information, and then disappearing without a trace.

How to Protect Yourself: Red Flags to Watch For
While these scams are more sophisticated, there are still ways to protect yourself:

Look for Contact Information: A legitimate business will have a physical address, a customer service phone number, and a company registration number. Be very suspicious of sites that only offer a web-based contact form.

Search for Independent Reviews: Don't trust the reviews on the company's own website. Do an independent search for the company's name plus "review" or "scam" to see what people are saying on other platforms.

Beware of "Too Good to Be True" Deals: Fake stores often lure victims with impossibly low prices on high-demand items. If a deal seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is.

Check the Domain Age: You can use a free online tool (like "Whois Lookup") to see when the website's domain was registered. If the site was created only a few weeks ago but claims to be a long-established brand, it's a major red flag.

The golden rule remains the same: if you have any doubt about a website's legitimacy, do not provide any personal or payment information.