Jeweller Battles AI Scam Confusion, Clears Up Customer Chaos Daily

Stevie Holmes, a jeweller from Hove, has found herself spending hours every week responding to complaints from customers who have confused her legitimate business, Scarlett Jewellery, with a similarly named but dishonest website called Scarlett Jewels. Since July, Ms Holmes has received daily phone calls, web chats, and emails from people who ordered jewellery from Scarlett Jewels and either received poor quality items or nothing at all. Many of these customers mistakenly believe they are contacting Ms Holmes about their orders, not realizing that her business is completely separate from the problematic Scarlett Jewels. She says that responding to these complaints takes at least an hour every day, and she worries that if she does not explain the difference, people will unfairly criticize her business on social media. Protecting her company's reputation has become a top priority.

The Scarlett Jewels website claims to be run by an older woman who is retiring and has created one last collection of jewellery. However, the website's small print reveals it is actually operated by a company called Denimtex Limited, based in Hong Kong. The images on the site appear almost too perfect and are likely generated by artificial intelligence. Professor Ana Canhoto, who teaches digital business management at the University of Sussex, explains that it is now very easy, quick, and inexpensive to create these AI-generated images. She notes that scammers often use flawless images and pretend their products are rare to make them seem more desirable. The Scarlett Jewels website boasts that over 10,000 American women have fallen in love with its jewellery and displays several five-star reviews. However, Professor Canhoto believes these reviews are fake, and the images of women shown are either AI-generated or taken from other websites.

Many customers have left negative reviews for Scarlett Jewels on Trustpilot, with two-thirds giving the site just one star and describing the products as poor quality or worthless. Roy Morton, a 77-year-old from York, thought he was buying from Ms Holmes' legitimate business but accidentally ordered from Scarlett Jewels. He realized it was a scam when he was told his earrings had been delivered, even though he never received them. Olga Grychak from Luxembourg saw a Scarlett Jewels ad on Facebook featuring what looked like beautifully crafted earrings, but she quickly noticed the woman in the ad was AI-generated and decided not to buy anything. She worries that others might not notice and could end up being scammed. Scarlett Jewels often advertises jewellery at heavily discounted prices, which is another common trick used by dishonest businesses.

The Advertising Standards Authority has already banned several misleading ads like those from Scarlett Jewels and issued a public warning about such scams. After being contacted by the BBC, Facebook restricted Scarlett Jewels from creating new ads. Andrew Laughlin, a principal researcher at consumer guide Which? , says that websites like Scarlett Jewels are hard to stop because they keep popping up under new names. He advises consumers to look out for slightly odd AI images and unusually large discounts as signs of a suspicious business, and to always check for genuine customer reviews before making a purchase. Ms Holmes continues to work hard to protect her business and hopes that by educating people, she can prevent further confusion and keep her company's reputation intact.