People Are Getting Scammed into Buying Seeds of Non-Existent Cat-Face Flowers Generated by AI

[Introversion]

https://www.odditycentral.com/news/people-are-getting-scammed-into-buying-seeds-of-non-existent-cat-face-flowers-generated-by-ai.html

Scammers are always finding new ways of taking advantage of gullible people, and apparently selling seeds of fake flowers generated by artificial intelligence is one of their latest techniques.

Artificial intelligence is touted as the next big thing in technological evolution, but right now it also seems to be a perfect tool for scammers looking to take advantage of people who can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not. Forget the elaborate scams where AI is used to fake actual people’s faces and voices, or the perfect-looking digital avatars posing as virtual girlfriends for hire, these days people are using artificial intelligence to create fake flowers that look like cute cat faces and selling seeds to clueless plant lovers online. Seeds of non-existent plants with named like “Cats Eye Dazzle” are currently being sold on various legitimate-looking websites, as well as popular e-commerce platforms like eBay or Etsy.

 

[twobeered]

There's nothing new there. When I was a kid, I bought sea monkeys. They were just brine shrimp and did not have monkey faces as the package showed, even if I looked through the magnifying glass.

 

[JoeySL]

Can we have a WTF-Button?

 

[Chris P]

I saw those for sale online, and thought those can't be real! But, there were just enough other sites to make me think they could be, so I guess I was 60% convinced. I didn't see any sites saying they weren't. I didn't buy any, but I can see how people would.

 

[lizmonster]

People are back to selling snake oil.

 

[Brigid Barry]

They never stopped. Now it's just easier to convince people to buy it.

For fun I searched Etsy and no cat flowers came up, but after seeing egret flowers and monkey faced orchids that are real I will never trust flowers again.

 

[Friendly Frog]

On Twitter there was an account that years ago shared ads she had run into online for very obviously photoshopped faked flower seeds. Think blue roses, complete rainbow peonies etc... This is just their newest sibling.

It's actually a clever fraud. By the time your expensive seeds have sprouted and are decidely not as advertised, months have passed before the fraud is discovered; allowing the fraudster a long get-away.

Back in the day I take it making those fake images took at least some photoshop skills. Now with the 'help' of AI, it is dead easy.