Fake Seed Fraud 'Cat's Eye Dazzle' Using AI Photos, Circulating On EBay

Fake seeds 'cat's eye dashel' from China are advertised on eBay. (photo: dock.snopes.com)

JAKARTA - Along with the large number of images produced by artificial intelligence (AI) becoming more realistic, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between fake and original ones.

Unfortunately, many online buyers have been deceived by the latest AI scam - China's 'cat's eye dashel' fake seeds.

The photos produced by AI on the list of these products show these seeds developing into beautiful flowers that resemble cute cats - even though there are no such plants.

The seeds, described as 'angka', 'organic', and 'non-GMO', have been sold for more than 45 US dollars (Rp718.5 thousand) per pack.

The fact-checking website, Snopes, has found fake images circulating on various social media sites, including Facebook, Reddit, and X.

The site, which is contacted by an internet user who is alert about the 'cob', has confirmed that the flowers are 'fake' and said that no such plants exist.

Snopes found the list of 'rids' completed or sold for the 'beh' on eBay at a price even exceeding 45 US dollars.

It's not clear how many people have been deceived or what they received through the post after completing their purchases.

According to Snopes, people who seem to believe that these flowers are real tend to be 'elderly'.

In addition to eBay, the flowers are reportedly advertised for sale on imseeds.com, gardenerstar.com, founded.com, and dailyrosy.com - and domain registration information for these websites 'pointed at China'.

False information suggesting that the plant was actually circulating on Reddit, although some users managed to call it nonsense.

MailOnline has found that seeds for this plant species - officially registered by the Royal Horticultural Society - are also being sold on eBay. MailOnline has contacted eBay and Meta, Facebook's parent company, for comment.

A Meta spokesperson said his staff were working closely with law enforcement to keep fraudsters away from Facebook and other platforms. He also encouraged users to report fraudulent campaigns to Meta and police.