Talking AI Infringements: A New EBRAND Podcast

Sophisticated AI tools bombard consumers with convincing deceptions, from fake social media ads to lookalike ecommerce shops. For Chief Information Security Officers and Heads of Brand Protection, these automated infringements launch a terrifying new frontier of digital risk, directly attacking brand identity, eroding customer trust, and stealing revenue.

This escalating threat demands a closer look at AI-driven infringements. To help your organization navigate this new reality and combat the surge of sophisticated scams, we recently gathered our experts to dissect the trend. Our podcast with EM360Tech delivers vital takeaways around the kinds of modern defenses you need to fight back. 

AI Fake Shops Accelerate Brand Infringements 

Malicious actors now use AI to generate hundreds of sophisticated fake shops, a hydra-headed problem for brand protection teams. These fraudulent storefronts feature AI-written product descriptions and stolen images, making them nearly indistinguishable from a brand’s legitimate e-commerce presence. Criminals promote these infringements through a barrage of fake ads, which spoof official brand accounts and appear directly in the social media feeds of targeted customers. One click on a mobile phone initiates the scam, harvesting payment details and personal data with devastating efficiency. 

This automated approach allows infringements to scale at a rate that overwhelms manual monitoring processes. Where teams once dealt with a handful of copycat sites, they now face waves of AI-generated storefronts that launch simultaneously. The moment your team shuts down one fraudulent operation, two more can instantly appear, creating a relentless and exhausting battle for your brand’s digital integrity. 

Multichannel Infringements Attack Your Customers Everywhere 

These modern infringements do not confine themselves to a single platform. Criminals execute multichannel attacks that target customers across the entire digital ecosystem. They register countless deceptive domains that closely mimic your official brand URLs, hoping to catch mistyped searches or confused shoppers. On social media, they create polished but entirely fake profiles to run malicious ad campaigns and interact directly with your customer base, further legitimizing their scam. 

The assault extends into official app stores, where bad actors upload fraudulent applications bearing your logo and brand name. These apps can steal login credentials, install malware, or process fake orders. This omnipresent strategy means that infringements can reach a customer whether they are browsing the web, scrolling social media, or searching for new software, creating a seamless and inescapable illusion of your brand’s presence. 

Sophisticated Infringements Actively Evade Detection 

Today’s infringements employ advanced evasion techniques to hide from brand protection teams and extend their fraudulent lifespan. Criminals use cloaked domains that show different content to different visitors; a brand protection agent or a search engine crawler might see a harmless error page, while a targeted customer sees a fully operational fake shop. This cloaking technique effectively makes the infringements invisible to many automated scanning tools. 

Furthermore, attackers deploy geofencing to make their infringements only visible in specific countries or cities, often outside your core monitoring regions. They also use device-specific targeting, serving their fake ads and storefronts only to users on mobile phones, which are often the primary device for casual shopping. These deliberate evasion tactics ensure that infringements fly under the radar, operating in the digital shadows for weeks or months, causing maximum damage to your brand and your customers. 

Rampant Infringements Target High-Value Industries 

No sector is immune, but AI-powered infringements disproportionately attack industries with high-value products and sensitive customer data. The fashion and luxury goods sector faces constant assault from fake shops selling counterfeit handbags, watches, and apparel. The automotive industry battles infringements offering fake parts, unauthorized accessories, and fraudulent vehicle sales that target a high-intent, high-spending audience. 

Criminals also heavily target the pharmaceutical and healthcare space, where fake online pharmacies sell everything from unapproved medications to counterfeit wellness products, posing a direct threat to consumer health. Perhaps most alarmingly, infringements now aggressively spoof service providers like investment firms and banks. These scams create fake portals to steal financial login information and personal data, leading to devastating direct financial losses for victims and catastrophic reputational damage for the institutions they impersonate. 

Fighting Scams and Impersonations: A Tech-Enabled Defense 

Organizations must combat these automated infringements with an equally sophisticated, technology-powered defense strategy. A robust Digital Risk Protection (DRP) service provides the foundation, offering continuous, AI-powered monitoring across the entire digital surface, including the clear, deep, and dark web. This proactive surveillance identifies new infringements as soon as they appear, often before they gain significant traffic. 

Mention OBP TOO

Advanced detection platforms analyze millions of data points. This complex analysis allows us to spot suspicious patterns, fake domains, and spoofed social profiles with high accuracy. Once identified, a streamlined and legally-backed takedown process is critical. Expert teams can execute rapid removals from domain registrars, social media platforms, and app stores, systematically dismantling the criminal infrastructure and reducing the average lifespan of each infringement. 

Proactive Measures Help Thwart Infringements 

While technology forms your main defensive wall against malcious cyberattacks, human vigilance plays a fundamental role against infringements too. Brands should work with expert partners and with their customers, highlighting basic tips alongside comprehensive solutions. Even something as simple as checking URLs for subtle misspellings could save hundreds of Euros, and countless hours of hard work.

In general, organizations must adopt the « think before you click » mindset. A single employee clicking a malicious link in a spoofed brand enforcement email could compromise your entire corporate network. Combining continuous technological monitoring with informed and cautious behavior creates a powerful, multi-layered defense. Future-proof defenses like these make it significantly harder for infringements to succeed. 

What’s Next: Reinforcing Your Strategy

AI-powered infringements represent a clear and present danger to your organization. However, a proactive and sophisticated defense can protect your brand’s integrity and your customers’ trust. This new era of automated scams demands that we move beyond reactive measures and adopt the advanced tools and strategies needed to fight back effectively. 

To dive deeper into this critical issue, you can find our podcast in full. Titled « Are Fake AI Shops the New Brand Protection Crisis? » it includes detailed deliverables from EBRAND’s Lisa Deegan. We break down the threat landscape and provide a clear roadmap for securing your brand’s future. 

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