Generative AI is revolutionizing how industries interact with customers online. But, this same innovation has opened new doors for counterfeiters, and may allow them to stay hidden.
The technology originally designed to lower costs and provide faster customer service for legitimate businesses is now being exploited by counterfeiters to automate sales, complicate brand protection, and deceive consumers.
Without innovating and improving how brand protection works in online spaces, AI chatbots will soon become a crucial part of counterfeiters’ online operations.
Chatbots Growing in Ecommerce
Chatbots are everywhere in ecommerce, despite only really existing since the start of the decade. In a very short time, they’ve started to establish themselves as a cornerstone of customer interaction online—revolutionizing how businesses connect with their audiences.
Businesses are showing their faith in the technology already. The global chatbot market is projected to reach $72 billion in market size by 2028—a significant 470% in growth rate from 2023.
As AI technology advances, chatbots have evolved from simple Q&A assistants to sophisticated tools capable of providing real-time support and product suggestions, responding in multiple languages, guiding users through complex purchasing decisions, and even finalizing sales and upselling.
To give an example, Amazon recently introduced Rufus, a generative AI chatbot designed to assist with everything from product recommendations to managing purchases. Rufus offers a personalized, hands-on shopping experience—entirely through an automated interface.
And consumers trust them. In fact, 65% of online shoppers now prefer to chat with businesses over using phone or email, valuing the immediacy and ease of chatbot responses. Chat interactions have become a familiar, comfortable channel, with 7 out of 10 consumers reporting that messaging with brands builds a stronger sense of connection.
This high level of comfort and trust is set to make chatbots more than a convenience—they are likely to become central to brand engagement strategies.
Having an automated approach that streamlines the shopping journey, one that meets the demands of fast-paced consumers, is huge. For brands, the boost to satisfaction and efficiency is well worth the investment.
Chatbots Selling Counterfeits: Why They’re So Effective
However, counterfeiters see the value of conversational chatbots, too.
The same chatbot technology transforming ecommerce is now a powerful tool for selling fakes, giving counterfeiters a streamlined, automated way to reach consumers while staying hidden. Research shows that 3.0% of online shoppers of counterfeit products went through a sales process involving AI chatbots. As the technology improves and becomes more accessible, and as more counterfeiters realize their benefits, that number is set to grow rapidly.
Unlike traditional counterfeit sales tactics that were popular last decade, which relied on simple websites and marketplace listings that brands can quickly find and report, online chatbots selling counterfeits can operate out of sight, holding conversations in private online channels to avoid detection.
It’s a simple setup with complex effects. And they’re able to target both types of online buyers of counterfeits—those who intentionally seek them out, and those who are tricked into thinking the items are authentic.
For customers who actively seek counterfeits or aren’t concerned about authenticity, online chatbots make the purchase of fakes cheaper, faster, and more accessible. They offer 24-hour support and multi-language capabilities without any human involvement, making their value easy to see.
For unsuspecting consumers, these bots can appear as standard customer service, adding to the illusion of legitimacy and making the fake products feel genuine. 55.80% of shoppers who buy counterfeits did so believing the products were genuine. This type of technology will only make it harder for online shoppers to determine what’s real and what’s fake.
What makes this worse for brands? It’s nearly invisible.
Many counterfeiters conduct these transactions over direct messages or encrypted platforms, where typical brand monitoring tools can’t reach. This secrecy allows them to stay hidden from older IP enforcement methods, leaving many brands with less ability to track and gather evidence against counterfeit activity.
For traditional brand protection strategies focused on monitoring open platforms, the rise of private counterfeit chat interactions—be they within a website impersonating a legitimate brand or in an encrypted messaging channel—introduces a formidable new obstacle. One they won’t be able to overcome without new innovation.
How Can Brands Overcome AI Chatbots in Counterfeiting?
Traditional brand protection methods are no longer enough. As counterfeiters use AI in conversational chatbots to streamline fake sales, brands need scalable solutions that can monitor these interactions, even in private, encrypted channels.
One approach is using an AI-powered conversational assistant—a tool that engages with suspected counterfeit chatbots to gather evidence of criminal IP infringement. Unlike conventional methods, an AI assistant of this kind can enter private chats, track multiple languages, and detect counterfeit sales in real time.
Scalability is the key part of the solution. With counterfeiters active around the clock, brands need an AI solution capable of matching their reach and speed. Real-time, expansive monitoring that can enter encrypted channels ensures that brands can keep up with counterfeiters, stopping fake sales before they reach consumers, and taking direct action against real criminals.
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