The city of Flin Flon in northwestern Manitoba has faced wildfires and a massive evacuation — and now a fake online site has popped up claiming a clothing warehouse in the city burned down, and the single-mom owner has to sell off what’s left.
But the site is fake. The store and warehouse don’t exist, and Flin Flon’s mayor says no buildings in the city of roughly 5,000 have been lost to fire.
“It’s disgusting. It’s a terrible thing,” Mayor George Fontaine said in an interview with CBC News.
“There’s enough bad things going on in Flin Flon right now that nature has provided for us. We don’t need this kind of behaviour from people.” Fontaine said.
As of Tuesday, 25 active wildfires were burning in Manitoba, 10 of which are out of control. The largest fire in the province is located near Flin Flon, about 630 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, and is roughly 308,000 hectares in size, according to the province’s latest fire bulletin.
It has forced the evacuation of a number of nearby communities, including the city of Flin Flon.
The website for Manitoba Mode says it’s been in business for 15 years, but the website flogging its fire sale was created on May 29 — the day after a mandatory evacuation order was issued for the city, according to the Whois database, which stores information about registered domain users.
The site features a plea from “Claire,” the purported owner, who claims to be a “single mother in Flin Flon” whose warehouse was destroyed by a “devastating wildfire.”
“By purchasing what’s left, you’re not only honouring the journey of this little boutique — you’re helping me support my family and rebuild in the face of disaster,” reads the website.
Manitoba Mode is not listed in Flin Flon’s business directory. Fontaine says if it exists, he’s never heard of it.
The site advertises men’s and women’s fashion, using photos scraped from the internet, taken from Amazon and other online retailers, with “deep discounts up to 80 per cent.”
The website’s terms of service say it’s “governed by the laws of the Netherlands.” It says any merchandise returns must be sent to its “central warehouse in Asia” at the customer’s expense.
A CBC analysis has found all indications that some of the pictures on the Manitoba Mode site are AI generated, including an image of a building on fire with fire trucks parked outside — and not a single firefighter or hose in sight.
Another photo features the fake fashion brand’s logo on a wall, with “Manitoba” misspelled as “Manitobe.”
Fake websites are a common scam, according to David Gerhard, who heads up the computer science faculty at the University of Manitoba.
“Anytime when you can elicit an emotional response, as opposed to a rational response, and somebody’s making a decision about money, there’s an opportunity to trick somebody,” Gerhard said.
“I think AI really enables a lot more of this kind of scamming, because you can generate content very quickly. You can create customized content.”
Manitoba Mode has been advertising on social media for just under two weeks. Sponsored content for the site has been appearing in Facebook feeds for days, with captions that read “final goodbye” and “final pieces remaining.”
The site claims to have more than 17,000 “happy customers,” offers free shipping in “all Canada,” and boasts you can “pay safely” with credit cards and PayPal.
“It does feel problematic that Facebook is receiving money from this ad, and as a result we’re being directed towards a company that doesn’t exist,” said Gerhard.
When you click through to the site, the sense of urgency is amplified, with a countdown clock indicating the time remaining for the “closing sale.”
CBC News documented the clock ticking down to zero and resetting itself to 24 hours remaining.
Gerhard said people should always look to verify websites they aren’t familiar with by doing a reverse image search on photos to see if they exist elsewhere. If an image doesn’t appear anywhere on the internet, that should raise red flags, and could be a sign it’s AI.
Gerhard would like to see improved regulation for social media sites, but admits it is a difficult task because they operate across the globe.
Meta, which owns Facebook, did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.
CBC News reached out to Manitoba Mode’s email address but did not receive a reply.
Find the latest wildfire information at these sources:
Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email [email protected].
