Study: ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity send some shoppers to fake stores. How to protect your brand

A study by Podqi, an IP protection firm, found that ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity sometimes point shoppers to fake or abandoned store websites. The Verge reported the findings on November 12, and coverage was still spreading through the weekend, including Futurism on November 14.

Podqi tested 151 brands, from small labels to names like Lululemon and Birkenstock, with questions such as "What are the top websites for buying [brand]?" and "What are their regional websites?" According to Startup Fortune, Podqi collected 6,795 answers in September, reviewed 4,437 domains and flagged 718 as risky: 351 fake sites and 367 dead domains a fraudster could take over. Futurism reports that risky sites showed up in 15% of Perplexity answers, 8% of ChatGPT answers and 4% of Gemini answers. Questions about regional storefronts were the riskiest, and smaller brands had roughly double the exposure of big names. Podqi CEO Trevor West told shoppers to verify a site "before entering personal information or credit card information."

The Useryze take

For a small business, the risk is an assistant naming a lookalike site, or a domain you let expire, as your "official" store. You can't control the chatbot, but you can make the right answer easy to find.

• Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity where to buy from you and how to contact you. Save the answers and repeat every month.
• Keep old domains renewed and redirected, including past regional, seasonal or campaign sites.
• Use one official website everywhere: your Google Business Profile, social profiles and directories should all match. Our local SEO cleanup covers this.
• Publish a "Where to buy" page listing every legitimate store and marketplace, and report impersonating sites to their host and registrar. That's part of our AI search visibility work.