“
I am sad to announce the closure of our beloved family business
.”
With a sad emoji in support, this message posted and sponsored on Facebook is signed Colette Paris, a supposed ready-to-wear boutique resulting from “
a family heritage
”.
“
The journey of running my parents' business has been a rollercoaster of emotions filled with incredible moments
,” the post reads further
.
The store immediately announced that it would apply
“incredible discounts”
, up to -70% precisely
,
on its entire collection.
With supporting photos of jackets, shoes and sweaters.
Enough to attract the consumer... except that the Colette Paris brand does not exist.
Internet users, such as communications advisor Adrien Saumier, have noticed a series of strange elements on these publications.
He explains on his X account (formerly Twitter) that the store is increasing its number of sponsored publications.
At the beginning of January alone, there were 3,100 advertisements broadcast on the social network Facebook alone.
And they all contain the same photos with, copied and pasted, this tearful message.
“I came across one of these publications on January 15 and something immediately alerted me. First with the photo of the jacket which was displayed and which was too smooth
”, he testifies, “
and then the message...The story seemed already seen and formatted, as if generated by ChatGPT
”.
Fake products generated by AI
Indeed, looking more closely at the publication in question, we see that the jacket does not seem tangible and that it is rather a graphic creation generated by a tool like Midjourney or DALL-E, software capable of create fake snapshots using commands written by users.
The same goes for the message, punctuated with emojis in the shape of a medal, broken hearts and lightning bolts, which use the codes of the professional social network LinkedIn.
At the start of January alone, there are more than 3,100 publications sponsored by the Colette Paris boutique on Facebook.
Always with the same tearful message, garnished with emojis, and the same formatted photos with a link to the store.
Meta Ads screenshot
“
This use of AI to generate images makes the scam more credible.
Scammers can create photos of original clothing that consumers will not find elsewhere.
Which will make him believe that the store is real
,” describes Jean-Baptiste Boisseau, co-founder of the Signal Arnaques platform.
“
And then these people will usurp existing brands to strengthen the credibility of their speech
,” continues the latter, thinking of Colette Paris, whose name is taken from a real Parisian brand which closed in 2017.
Under the sponsored publications of Colette Paris (as we can see on the right), photos of clothes appear that appear to be generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Facebook screenshot Colette Paris
Consumers have already testified, on the platform, about their mishaps when ordering from one of these stores.
“
Once the order has been placed, to your greatest surprise the products come from China, the quality is lower, nothing to do with what they present on the internet
,” describes one of the victims.
Very far from the small French society asking for help.
Other Internet users say they never received their order and are unable to contact customer service.
“
For six months, this is a phenomenon that we have seen increase
,” confirms Jean-Baptiste Boisseau.
Fake profiles
On the Colette Paris boutique page, there are only three comments from Internet users visibly attracted by their experience with the company.
But the profiles of these delighted consumers turn out to be artificial.
“
If we go to the accounts of those who left a comment, there are only a few publications with no reactions and no apparent friends list, in short the entire profile is empty.
Either these are accounts that have been hacked, or they are fake
,” underlines Adrien Saumier.
As for the Meta group, which owns the social network Facebook, the teams are trying as much as possible to clean up and identify these fraudulent posts.
According to our information, fraudulent store pages reported to the group can no longer advertise and the posts have been removed for violating the social network's rules on advertising practices.
Sites that practice dropshipping
But the matter does not stop with these false advertisements.
By clicking on the link available at the end of the publication, it leads directly to the Colette Paris boutique website.
At first glance, nothing unusual: the site is sober but presents a series of clothes at competitive prices (40 euros for a sweater with sheep motifs compared to 134 euros originally for example).
Except that in these same photos, there are never any models, and few details on the composition of the products or the delivery methods.
By typing the number that appears on the Colette Paris contact page into the Google search bar, you discover a series of stores of the same ilk.
Screenshot
In the contact page, at the bottom of the page, there is a telephone number.
By typing it into Google, we see that it refers to other dubious stores like Etienne Paris, Matteo Berlin, Amalie Praha, Olivier London, Loïs Amsterdam and Laura Barcelona.
Some of these clothes are in fact, like this one above sold for more than 40 euros on Colette Paris, are in fact sold for around ten euros on sites like AliExpress or Alibaba.
Screenshot Colette Paris / AliExpress
According to AFP Factual, which had already investigated the subject last December, the few products that arrive in the hands of consumers come from cheap sites like AliBaba or AliExpress.
On these same sites, these clothes are sold at prices much lower than those displayed on Colette Paris or the other brands mentioned above.
A method similar to dropshipping, a commercial technique which consists of reselling low-quality products often produced in China at high prices.
Behind the creation of these sites, a Hong Kong company
Most of these sites are created and powered by Shopify, an e-commerce platform that allows Internet users to create and run their own online store for a monthly fee.
Contacted by Le Figaro, the platform ensures that it strives to improve commerce for all.
“
We take concerns about goods and services offered by merchants on our platform very seriously
,” reports a Shopify spokesperson, before specifying: “
Shopify’s acceptable use policy clearly describes activities that are not not authorized on our platform and we take action when stores are in violation
.
Behind the creation of these sites, we find the Hong Kong company Industex Limited, whose name appears on some of the contact pages.
Registered in the commercial register since March 2023, AFP Facteur discovered that its original name is Get Started HK, a company which offers a domiciliation service for companies wishing to register in Hong Kong.