Retailers use AI personas to pose as small businesses

Scores of online retailers are using generative AI to impersonate struggling small businesses, pairing emotional sales pitches with AI-made photos, videos and testimonials. ABC News identified dozens of sites selling products including clothing, jewelry and lamps while portraying themselves as down-on-their-luck craftspeople or shop owners trying to clear inventory.

One buyer, Rockford, Illinois musician Denny Svehla, said he purchased caps after seeing an ad from a supposed retiring craftsman. He became suspicious when the handmade hats appeared to ship from mainland China, and said the product quality did not match the story. Similar cap sites used nearly identical retirement narratives, while a representative for George’s Caps defended the quality of its goods but did not answer whether George was real or whether the retirement claims were fabricated.

Other sites used AI-generated crisis imagery, including a purported New York clothing retailer showing a damaged storefront and a lamp boutique that claimed it was closing. The lamp shop later went offline, and its listed address showed no sign the company existed. University of Chicago computer science professor Marshini Chetty said AI now lets operators create convincing media, reviews and websites at scale, then remove or replace them quickly, especially on platforms where distracted shoppers make fast purchases.