On April 12, one of Cassey Ho’s followers messaged her about a fake listing for her gym product on Amazon, and what she found left her in a state of disbelief.
Imagine you’re watching a video of yourself in your home that appears on an Amazon listing—altered so that your face looks like someone else’s.
That’s what happened to Cassie Ho, founder and CEO of activewear company Popflex and fitness brand Blogilates. He has 2.8 million followers on Instagram and 3.5 million followers on TikTok, and recently featured Taylor Swift Wearing Ho’s patented Popflex Pirouette Skort.
“I would almost say there [have] “There were hundreds of fraudulent listings for my products on Amazon,” she told Fox News Digital.
On April 12, a follower messaged her and reported one of these scam listings on Amazon, and Ho’s team immediately started looking into it.
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Blogilates and Popflex founder Cassey Ho says an Amazon listing for a knockoff version of her skirt used her video but changed it, likely using artificial intelligence, to make her face look different. (Blogs / TikTok / Fox News)
“Then I clicked on it, and I was scrolling through photos of stolen models… and then I would see a preview of my video, and I would click on it. And the moment I saw my body in a different way, it was really violating. It was all wrong… I felt ‘Black Mirror’ “.
The Amazon listing, which has since been removed, offered a knockoff version of Ho’s Pirouette Skort for cheaper than what the real Popflex skirt sells for. However, the fake Amazon listing included photos and videos of its product. The photos and videos have been modified, most likely by artificial intelligence.
| tape | protection | last | It changes | % changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amzn | Amazon.com Inc | 187.48 | -2.02 | -1.07% |
“Amazon strictly prohibits counterfeit and intellectual property infringement products in our store,” an Amazon spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “We have proactive measures in place to prevent counterfeit or infringing products from being listed, and from the moment a seller lists a product for sale, our advanced technology constantly scans for counterfeits, fraudulent products and potential abuse, including future changes made to the product. If we identify a problem, we act quickly to protect customers and brands, including delisting and banning accounts as appropriate.”
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Blogilates and Popflex founder Cassey Ho says an Amazon listing for a knockoff version of her skirt used her video but changed it, likely using artificial intelligence, to make her face look different. (Cassie Hu/Bluegelates/Fox News)
He speculates that the counterfeit seller, Begoing, did this to avoid detection on Amazon.
“Basically, they faked me backwards. So, they took my face out and put in a different face,” Ho said of the video that appeared on Amazon’s fake list. “And I think these people are doing it so that it’s difficult to detect copyright infringement by an AI bot… because to the human eye, those two videos are different, but to the robotic eye, if the face was different, it would be different.” “Different and that’s why they do those things.”
“They mirrored the deepfake back to me.”
Sellers also “photoshop” models in their photos and slightly change the way they look to avoid detection, Ho said. She has to fill out a form every time she wants to remove a fake item from Amazon and then wait to hear back from the tech giant, a process that’s becoming antiquated with a small team battling one or more fraudulent listings a day.
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Cassey Ho is the founder and CEO of Popflex and Blogilates. She is also the lead designer for Popflex. (Cassie Hu/Blogs/Fox News)
“Every day there [are] A few of them are new. …We don’t go looking for it anymore because we all find hundreds [of dupes]. And I’m not just talking about Amazon. Everything is online. It’s everywhere. …At least Amazon is an American platform. There’s very little governance there, though… It makes it harder for the victim of a crime to remove the photo than it is for these scammers to steal my photo and put it up, so all the work is put on the victim.”
“All the work is put on the victim.”
Amazon said it offers affordable alternatives to high-end products but does not infringe on a particular brand’s intellectual property, which is what happened in Ho’s recent experiment. The tech giant says its automated technology scans billions of change attempts on product detail pages every day for signs of potential abuse, such as keywords, text and logos that are identical or similar to registered trademarks or copyrighted material.
Amazon also has a “brand registration” service for brand owners to better manage and expand their brand with Amazon while protecting intellectual property rights, the company said.
Much of Ho’s social media content focuses on how she makes her designs come to life from start to finish. (Cassie Ho/Bluegelates)
The process of tracking down counterfeit versions of its Popflex products “takes a lot of mental and emotional energy.” it is in, Chinese fast fashion company It’s worth an estimated $100 billion, according to Business Insider, which recently listed a cheaper Pirouette Skourt knockoff.
To add to the chaos, Ho says scammers have made the shopping process “confusing” for customers who love her products. While most of her followers help point out and report scam listings, some feel entitled to cheaper versions of her designs, openly admitting in the comments section that they can’t afford her products and would rather buy knockoffs.
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The Pirouette Skort retails for $60 on the Popflex website, which is a competitive price compared to other popular exercise brands. LuluLemon sells a similar pleated workout skirt for $88. Athleta sells a basic workout skirt for about $50.
“It’s just a really weird mentality that shows how disrespectful people are towards them Artists and creativesBecause in the end if there are no original artists and creators, who is the fraudulent scammer? “You won’t even get the skirt you think you have the right to buy,” Ho said.
Much of Ho’s social media content focuses on how she makes her designs come to life from start to finish. She shows her followers how a pencil drawing can become a realistic product and takes user feedback seriously. For example, if Ho unveils a new Popflex product and gets feedback from followers that it needs pockets or a different waistline, she will often launch a newer version of her product that meets her customers’ desires.
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He believes Amazon needs to change some of its policies so that it becomes easier for independent designers to fight counterfeits and harder for sellers to list counterfeit items. She said she had been trying to contact the tech giant’s counterfeit crimes unit to no avail.
“I feel really hopeless,” Ho said.
“Alcohol maven. Evil bacon lover. Wannabe social media geek. Travel guru. Amateur introvert. Pop culture nerd.”