AI grifters are creating fake Black people to sell Shein junk

Scammers are leveraging AI to create fake influencers, primarily appearing as Black women, to conduct retail dropshipping scams on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. These AI-generated personas utilize emotional manipulation, or “empathy bait,” by claiming to be small business owners struggling with adversity to sell inexpensive, mass-produced items sourced from sites like Shein. Experts describe this phenomenon as a form of “digital blackface” that exploits racial and economic narratives to extract profit from unsuspecting consumers, while highlighting the failure of social media platforms to adequately moderate or label AI-generated content.

(Source：The Verge)