AI grifters are creating fake Black people to sell Shein junk

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https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/938844/ai-tiktok-shop-blackface-shein-dropshipping

AI grifters are creating fake Black people to sell Shein junk
Can race, guilt, and empathy get you to pay $40 for this $9 belt buckle on TikTok?
by
Nicole Froio
May 30, 2026, 8:00 AM CDT


Aliyah, a light-skinned Black woman dressed in country-western gear, is struggling to sell metal buckles she handmade on TikTok. In a video for the social media platform from March, she cries to the camera and pleads for views: “Even as a black woman, I have more faith that white women will stay 13 seconds [on this video] to save my belt buckle business,” the onscreen text reads. She wipes a tear off her cheek.

But Aliyah isn’t real, and neither are her supposedly handmade products — she’s one of many AI-generated influencers created to sell mass-produced products via dropshipping on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. Identical belt buckles — sunflower design, detachable knife inlay, and all — are sold on the fast-fashion site Shein, and for a quarter of the price.

There are some clues to spot to determine that this video is AI-generated. Aliyah’s voice is robotic and emotionless, which doesn’t match the crying face on the screen. In one clip, she is sewing a leather belt where there wouldn’t usually be sewing at all. When she wipes a tear off her face, the stream of liquid below where she wipes also disappears. And lastly, there are dozens of uncannily comparable videos, but with different AI-generated characters, circulating on TikTok. One, a profile for an account called “Aliyahsbuckles,” features an identical background, tabletop, and spool of twine.

The Verge found dozens of accounts on TikTok with similar narratives and a variety of dropshipping products, including belt buckles, mugs shaped like cowboy boots, crochet bags, and cardigans. Some of these videos are labelled as AI-generated. Similar accounts are also active on Instagram and Facebook. Nearly all aspects of the accounts appear to be AI-generated — from the “person” in the video to automated responses to comments, which in some cases attempt to mimic African American vernacular — and experts warn scams like this are growing every day.

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According to The Verge, that video has 814,000 likes, 6.5 million views, and almost 30,000 replies - some labeling it slop but others falling for it and expressing sympathy.

Some experts quoted in the article call this digital blackface.

The Verge found YouTube channels and online forums that teach people how to create fraudulent AI ads like this.