With Christmas fast approaching, you are looking for gifts that will put stars in the eyes of your loved ones. Did a clothing advertisement recently appeal to you and you are hesitant to give in? Be careful, this may be a false scam. In recent weeks, several advertisements have been circulating on social networks, notably offering colorful Christmas sweaters with embossed designs. Colorful mushrooms, cartoon men, snowy landscapes… these sweaters have pretty patterns that catch the eye, only in reality it would be a scam spotted by independent journalist Ulysse Thevenon, as reported Le Figaro.
Clothing whose images sold in advertisements are fraudulent
On his X account (formerly Twitter), journalist Ulysse Thevenon shared several messages, claiming that he “discovered a new kind of scam“.”Scammers are now using artificial intelligence to generate images of fake products“, he adds, specifying that clothes “do not exist, just like the people who wear them“. The clothing in question is sold by a Chinese online sales site, called CCMom. When we go to the CCMom site, we see impressive “reductions” in prices. For example, the children’s sweater with colorful 3D mushrooms goes from 99 dollars to 28.99 dollars.
I discovered a new kind of scam.
Scammers are now using artificial intelligence to generate images of fake products.
The clothes you see here don’t exist, and neither do the people wearing them.
👇 pic.twitter.com/ADU9ZLnLrt— Ulysse Thevenon (@ulyssethevenon) November 6, 2023
A majority of negative customer reviews
Journalist Ulysse Thevenon then went to Reddit, where he discovered, according to other Internet users, that the images were generated by Midjourney, an artificial intelligence image generator. Many Internet users expressed themselves on the social network in a dedicated page, the majority acting out of their discontent. “It’s a scam“, “I bought some clothes and was disappointed. They were nowhere near as cute as in the photos.“, “Avoid! The clothes are junk and returns are impossible“, we can read in particular. Another Internet user recounts her experience in turn: “A real scam! The dress I ordered was not the one I received. It didn’t fit, then they wouldn’t refund me. And I have to pay the shipping costs for the return! It’s ridiculous.“
As Ulysse Thevenon explains on X, familiar with the use of Midjourney, he in turn designed similar clothes using artificial intelligence. “It’s stunning“, he adds. On the review platform Trustpilotthe CCMom site harvests the average of 1.9/5 with 86 reviews. Among all, 72% of Internet users gave the e-shop a one-star rating. Here again, customers denounce a “deception“, of “poor quality“, never having received their order or even the absence of reimbursement.
According to Tech&Co of BFTMV“160 advertisements from this advertiser were posted online by Facebook and Instagram, the oldest of which only date back to August 2023“. After several reports, CCMom is now listed in the list of Signal-Scams. Caution is therefore required behind the promises of this e-shop.
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