Dangers of Fake Images: How to Protect Yourself from Online Shopping Scams

Undoubtedly, online shopping has transformed the way consumers used to shop just a few decades ago. Instead of commuting to the brick-and-mortar store, analyzing the product holding in hand, comparing the products, bargaining with the salesman, billing at the cash counter, and rushing back home carrying bags, the process is limited to a few clicks. 

The flexibility, comfort, and hassle-free experience online shopping offers is truly unmatched. Consequently, the ecommerce industry is flourishing, and you can find around 12 – 24 million eCommerce stores on the web. 

With such a huge number of online platforms, it offers various challenges. Online shopping scams are the biggest issue faced in the ecommerce industry. This is usually caused by fake product images that motivate consumers to believe the product and platform are authentic. 

Continue reading the article if you want to learn the dangers of fake images and how to protect yourself from online shopping scams.

Dangers of Fake Images

As briefed in the introduction, fake images make consumers believe the product displayed is original and that the shopping store is authentic. The little they would observe at that moment, the images might be fake, stolen from other sites, edited, or AI-generated. These fake images pose the following dangers and risks to online customers.

• Poor Quality

Inauthentic ecommerce stores may post fake images to sell poor-quality products. Such platforms know their products aren’t up to the mark and high quality. So if they capture their product’s image, the reality will be evident to consumers. 

Therefore, instead of publishing images of their own product, they steal images from other websites. As a result, the consumers fall for the high-quality images faked from other sources. However, when the package is delivered to their doorstep, the reality is unveiled as they see a substandard product.

• Irrelevant Product

The dangers of fake images also include receiving irrelevant products. Platforms with substandard and counterfeit products not only exploit fake images by sending poor-quality products, but they also send completely different products. 

For instance, they show the image of an induction oven and may deliver a microwave oven instead. Hundreds of such incidents are reported where the consumers are shown their desired product till the checkout process but unfortunately receive another product in its place. 

• Missing Features

In a similar manner, fake images disappoint online customers by displaying complete features or an appealing outlook, but in reality, the original product lacks some features or colors as displayed in the images. 

For instance, the hair styling kit images may display a dryer, straightener, crimper, and curler with multiple rods and other accessories like a brush, styling comb, and heat-protecting gloves. 

However, the package delivery will tell another story. Upon receiving the parcel, the consumer may realize the styling kit lacks any accessory like curling rods or gloves, as displayed in the product details. 

Ways to Avoid Online Shopping Scams

Fake images can broadly impact the online shopping experience. Fraud websites use them as a powerful tool to scam people in different ways. They can ask for advance online payments with no package deliveries later, steal their card and bank details, or sell counterfeit products at the price of the original product. 

Whatever scam they offer, consumers should be alert and avoid falling into their traps. 

The following ways can help them distinguish between original and fake images to avoid online shopping scams. 

• Search for Similar Products

In online shopping scams, many fraudsters steal images from reputable stores on the web. If you suspect you’ve seen a product on another site, you can use an image finder to verify its authenticity.

This powerful tool explores multiple databases, delivering extensive results that help you identify whether the images are genuine or have been used elsewhere. 

If similar products appear on multiple platforms, the reverse image search will reveal them, allowing you to quickly assess the credibility of the shopping site. 

By leveraging this tool, you can easily protect yourself from falling victim to online shopping scams.

• Examine Images Closely

A keen eye is sometimes all it needs to identify red flags associated with online shopping scams. You can manually review the images to find the signs of fake images either generated via AI or copied from other sources. 

For instance, platforms that only intend to scam people usually don’t focus on picture quality and other aesthetics. They take shortcuts like copying images from other platforms and publishing them as their own. 

When downloading and uploading images, these platforms might compress images, causing low-quality and blurred visuals. 

Similarly, if they publish AI-generated images, there are associated signs. For instance, the images seem to be airbrushed or perfect, and the background may seem captured from an imaginary world or contain unnatural shapes or visuals.

• Ask For More Product Images

If you are skeptical about the product image, you can contact the support team directly and ask for more pictures. You can request a video demo of the product or images from different angles. 

If the e-commerce platform is authentic, they wouldn’t mind sharing some more photos of their products. However, reaching out to fake platforms will not provide you with satisfying responses. Either they excuse you that it is impossible to provide images other than those available on the site, or they will send you pictures that do not match the previous ones. 

You can catch and focus on this clear red flag before buying anything. As a result, don’t buy any product from a site that can’t even provide you with their own product images. 

Conclusion

Fake images have become a grave concern for the online shopping world. Bogus and unauthentic eCommerce stores exploit images from other sources and try to sell their substandard goods. They commit various scams and fool online shoppers. However, customers should be careful about these scams and buy from authentic platforms by first verifying the images and the source. The article above discusses the issue in detail and presents an effective solution to it. Hope this information might help you protect yourself from online shopping scams. Happy Shopping.