We’ve had problems with deepfake celebrity scams, non-consensual deepfake sexual material, and deepfake politicians. Now we have to deal with… deepfake plants?
Yup, AI seed slop is now a thing. 404 Media documented scammers marketing seeds for plants that supposedly bloom in the shape of birds, butterflies, and cat heads, complete with technicolor leaves and impossible color gradients. The listings appear on eBay, Amazon, and Etsy, and the platforms are struggling to keep up. The plants never existed, except as some get-rich-quick merchant’s fever dream.
Don’t confuse this seed scam with the unsolicited seed incident that the FTC warned about in 2020. In that case, people received packets of seeds in the mail that they never ordered.
That was a “brushing” scam, in which scammers would send out low-value packets of seeds to unwitting recipients. This allowed them to register those people as verified purchasers on ecommerce platforms so they could use their accounts to create fake reviews for likely fake products. The confused “customers” were left none the wiser.
Those scammers were after verified purchaser status. This time around, the seeds themselves are the cash grab. This means they need to look visually intriguing and appealing.
