Fakes
Field notes from the fake economy.
A running log of patterns we're seeing. Anonymised where it matters, specific where it helps.
- Cloned shop
A premium European brand, re-rendered overnight.
Same hero, same product copy, same review widget — different checkout. Two weeks live before takedown. Six new copies the following week.
- Review farm
Five-star ratings, written by nobody.
A small consumer-goods seller went from 80 to 4,000 reviews in three days. Language model fingerprints all over the text. The platform's filter caught 12%.
- Voice clone
The CEO who never made the call.
Thirty seconds of conference audio was enough to spin up a credible voice for an internal payment-approval scam. The transfer cleared in minutes.
- AI agent
An agent that 'verified' a fake.
A shopping agent confidently recommended a scam shop because the scam shop displayed a (faked) trust badge. The agent had no way to check.