AI ads are making fake products look more real than ever

BALTIMORE, Md. — This holiday season, shoppers face a new challenge. They’re being flooded with ads created by artificial intelligence — where, if you buy that item, you never really know what you’re going to get.

Maggie McGaugh buys them on purpose.

It’s the idea behind her viral segment, “I Knew These Were Fake, But I Bought Them Anyways,” where she orders products she thinks might be misleadingly advertised. McGaugh’s reviews have attracted millions of followers.

“People just really responded to it because either, one, they’ve been scammed by it in the past, or two, they’ve seen it and been curious what’s going to happen if you actually order it,” McGaugh said.

Before she buys, McGaugh checks for clues a seller might not be the real deal.

“I need to check the actual website. So, if you Google, you know, is this website legit?” she said.

She also reads reviews — knowing some may be fake — checks the product description and materials, looks for a business address or phone number, and does a reverse image search. And she’s particular about how she pays.

“I don’t use my personal credit card at all. It’s all PayPal,” McGaugh said.

“They are at the point now where they can take a photo of something or create something with AI, a photo of an item, and then they can plug it into an AI system that makes it into a video. So now you’ve gone from not even having a product to having a photo of a product that doesn’t exist, to turning that into a girl wearing that dress that does not exist,” McGaugh said.

Balaji Padmanabhan, director for the University of Maryland Smith School of Business Center for Artificial Intelligence in Business, says the same technology that helps companies market smarter is also being used to deceive shoppers.

“AI-generated videos used to have cues that tell you, hey, this is not real, but the modern ones have become amazing. I mean, it’s very hard to tell the difference from real and fake anymore,” Padmanabhan said. “[AI] can create videos for small businesses wanting to market their products cheaply who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford the costs of creating videos but can also be used by scammers to create extremely compelling ads that consumers fall for."

Padmanabhan says social media platforms are stepping up enforcement, but scammers adapt quickly.

“As soon as the platform finds them they shut down and they come up with a new name, so they’re so fleeting, so I think that’s part of it. It’s very hard to tell, so if it’s a strange name you’ve never seen before, maybe the holiday season is not the time to try it out,” he said. “Do your best to question these things or at least consult your teenage kids.”

Because when, or if, that order arrives, you might get more than disappointment.

“I think something that a lot of people don’t realize with these scam items is how bad they smell,” McGaugh said. “When you open these packages, they just like smack you in the face, and that’s because they’re using chemicals. They’re using like resin that hasn’t cured and is highly toxic. Just a lot of stuff that we really shouldn’t be wearing on our skin, rubbing on our face, you know, putting in our homes."

McGaugh says she usually tries to return the item for a refund — sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s why she recommends using payment methods with built-in protection, like credit cards or PayPal. They make it easier to get your money back if something’s off.