<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/nov/26/online-ghost-stores-accc-warning-christmas-black-friday-sales>
"So-called “ghost store” operators are taking advantage of Christmas and Black
Friday to lure shoppers to their websites, as the consumer regulator warns
Australians that artificial intelligence is making it even harder to identify
deceptive retailers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) considers ghost
stores – which falsely market themselves as local brands – to be “scam
adjacent”, as some send imitation products from overseas and others fail to
deliver anything at all.
Guardian Australia has identified several new examples of ghost stores
claiming to offer Black Friday discounts on a variety of products, including
jewellery, makeup and children’s toys.
Even though the Facebook owner, Meta, and the e-commerce platform Shopify have
been aware of the broader problem for months, ghost stores not only continue to
be set up and run fictitious advertising but are escalating their methods.
In one example, the online makeup retailer Legacare, which is running ads on
Meta platforms for a Black Friday sale, claims to have developed a “line of
products” from its headquarters in Queensland. It sells a “Biomimic” foundation
for mature skin, which it says is the favourite of “42,000+ Happy Women”.
One of the Legacare ads includes an image which appears to be a screenshot of
an
Australian Women’s Weekly article headlined: “This Australian brand is
outselling Sephora bestsellers.”
But the article doesn’t exist.
A spokesperson for
Women’s Weekly owner Are Media said the image was not an
authentic article and appeared to be an “unauthorised and fabricated” use of
its brand to mislead consumers."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
