AI Ghost Stores Are Cloning Real Australian Businesses
AI 'ghost stores' are cloning real Australian businesses — fake photos, reviews and backstories. What the ACCC found, and how to protect your brand.
A business that doesn't exist, trading on a name that does
A glassblower in Port Fairy spent last month fielding calls for a woman who doesn't exist. Shoppers had found "Eleanor Whitmore" — a local artist whose husband had died — selling hand-made nautical glasses for $250 a set, and rang the town's only real glassblower, Robert Gatt, to track her down. "I'm the only glassblower in Port Fairy and I'm not dead, and neither is my wife," he told them, as reported by the ABC on 10 September. Whitmore was invented: an AI-generated face, an AI-written backstory, and a Hong Kong drop-shipper behind the checkout.
This is what an AI "ghost store" does, and the ACCC's warning is blunt — consumers "can no longer rely on appearance alone." Since the start of 2025 the regulator has fielded more than 360 reports about roughly 60 fake stores, and Australians lost $10.8 million to shopping scams last year on Scamwatch's numbers. The part that should worry an owner is the newer twist: the store isn't a generic fake any more. Increasingly it wears a real local business's name, story and reviews.
What the ACCC found
AI has collapsed the cost of a convincing clone. Ghost stores now use AI-generated product photos, fabricated "about us" stories, invented reviews, and even fake team and warehouse shots to look established. They pose as local Australian businesses — a .com rather than a .com.au, a tear-jerk backstory about a family shop closing down — then vanish and rebrand under a new town's name when the reports start. The ACCC first raised the alarm in July 2025, with Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe warning the conduct "preys on the empathy of consumers who have a genuine desire to support local businesses," and repeated it on 31 August 2026 as the AI tooling got sharper. Four sites have been named in Public Warning Notices so far.
360+
Reports to the ACCC
Since the start of 2025, across ~60 ghost stores
$10.8m
Lost to shopping scams in 2025
Scamwatch reports
4
Public Warning Notices issued
Named ghost-store sites
Want to know what this means for your business? We'll map it in one call.
Book a call →The bill lands on the real business
When a ghost store trades on your name, two costs follow. First, the confused customers ring you — Gatt's problem, and it's unpaid time you'll never bill. Second, and worse, the ones who get burned tie the loss to your name: chargebacks they blame on you, one-star reviews left on the wrong business, and the quiet erosion Gatt named himself — "it does start making you wary of buying online." That wariness is the real damage, because trust in buying from a local business online is the thing every genuine local business trades on.
This is a revenue capture and customer-trust problem before it's a security one. A cloned storefront — or a fake "get a quote" page — doesn't just fool a shopper; it intercepts your customer at the exact moment you'd normally win the job. For a trades business or a firm that doesn't sell products online, the same toolkit spins up imposter service pages, cloned websites and fake social profiles that catch the customer mid-search. We wrote recently about how AI deepfakes now wear your business's face; ghost stores are the retail edition of the same playbook. If you're not sure how exposed your brand is online, book a call and we'll map it with you.
What to actually do about it
The ACCC's advice is aimed at shoppers: check the ABN on the Australian Business Register, reverse-image-search the product photos, search the business name alongside the word "scam." It's good advice — but it protects your customers, not your brand. The business-side work is different, and it's mostly monitoring. Make your real presence unmistakable first: a .com.au domain, your ABN on the site, and the same name, address and phone everywhere a customer might check. Then watch for clones — periodically search your own business name and reverse-image your own product and team photos, because that's how fakes surface. And have a takedown path ready before you need it: report to Meta, Shopify, Google and Scamwatch the day you find one. None of it is exotic. It just has to be set up in advance, not scrambled together after the first confused customer calls.
Key takeaways
Common questions
What is an AI ghost store?
A fake online store that uses AI to look legitimate — AI-generated product photos, a fabricated "about us" story, invented reviews, sometimes fake team and warehouse shots — often posing as a local Australian business before taking payment for goods that never arrive or ship from an overseas drop-shipper.
Can I stop scammers cloning my business with AI?
You can't stop them trying, but you can catch clones fast and limit the damage. Make your genuine presence verifiable (a .com.au domain, your ABN on the site, consistent contact details), periodically search your own business name and reverse-image your own photos, and keep a takedown path ready with Meta, Shopify, Google and Scamwatch.
What should I do if a fake store is impersonating my business?
Report it to Scamwatch and to the platform hosting it (Meta, Shopify or Google), warn your customers through your real channels, and document the confused enquiries you receive. The ACCC has issued Public Warning Notices against named ghost stores, so reporting adds to the regulator's case.
Sources
ACCC — Consumers warned about 'ghost stores' imitating Australian businesses
ABC News — 'Ghost stores' and AI scams scare unsuspecting artist (10 September 2026)
▶Assumptions & methodology
- The Port Fairy example (glassblower Robert Gatt; the fictitious "Eleanor Whitmore" store) was reported by ABC News on 10 September 2026. The store used AI-generated imagery and was operated by a Hong Kong-based company.
- ACCC figures — more than 360 reports about roughly 60 online stores since the start of 2025, four Public Warning Notices, and Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe's remarks — are from the ACCC's ghost-store warning first issued 3 July 2025 and restated in coverage dated 31 August 2026. The "can no longer rely on appearance alone" line is the ACCC's, per that August 2026 reporting.
- The $10.8 million shopping-scam loss figure is Scamwatch data for 2025, as cited in coverage of the ACCC warning. Scam losses are self-reported and understated, as many victims never report.
- Last reviewed 16 September 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Field Notes are general commentary on AI trends for Australian businesses. They don’t constitute professional advice. Talk to your accountant, lawyer, or IT adviser before acting on anything specific to your situation — or talk to us if you want help working out where AI fits.
Subscribe
Don't miss the next one
Get each new Field Note in your inbox as it publishes — short, practical AI intelligence for business owners.
How exposed is your business's name online?
AI has made it cheap to clone a real Australian business — its name, its story, its reviews. The businesses that catch a clone in days rather than months are the ones that set up monitoring before they needed it. A short conversation is enough to work out what that looks like for you. Book a call.
Book a call →