Dishonest overseas companies are using false backstories and AI-generated visuals to impersonate family-run UK companies in an attempt to attract customers. Consumers claim they felt “completely ripped off” after receiving inexpensive clothing and jewelry that were mass-shipped from east Asian warehouses when they thought they were purchasing from independent stores in England.
One of the websites is C’est La Vie, a store located in Birmingham’s famed Jewellery Quarter that claims to have been owned and operated by Eileen and Patrick for 29 years, but with a return address in China. According to consumer advocacy group Which?, fraudsters are now able to deceive the public on a “unprecedented” scale thanks to the increasing use of AI tools.
Mabel & Daisy, an apparently stereotypical mother-daughter clothing company that claims to be based in Bristol but has an address in Hong Kong, is another website that appears to utilise AI-generated photos.
Over 500 one-star ratings of the businesses can be found on the review site Trustpilot, where consumers complain about paying exorbitant amounts for subpar products and incurring outrageous return costs. Customers told the BBC that while scrolling through Facebook, advertisements were specifically targeted at them.
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