{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-24T05:56:04.433Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"refunds","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":3,"coverage":{"cases":3,"countries":2,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":1,"coreRelations":2,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":1,"relationPending":1,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2024-glasgow-wonka-themed-event-advertised-with-apparently-ai-generated-images-near-empty-warehouse-refunds","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"were promised “extraordinary props, oversized lollipops, and a paradise of sweet treats” — all promoted with dreamlike, candy-colored images on its website. ... When ticketholders arrived at the event over the weekend, they instead found a sparsely decorated warehouse","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"the £35 a ticket event turned out to be an almost empty Glasgow warehouse decorated with some posters, a rainbow and a bouncy castle.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A Willy Wonka-inspired 'Chocolate Experience' in Glasgow promised extraordinary props, oversized lollipops and a paradise of sweet treats, promoted with candy-coloured images on its website; ticket-holders paid £35 per ticket and on the weekend of 24 February 2024 found a sparsely decorated warehouse.","causal_attribution":"NBC News describes the advertising and the warehouse; the Evening Standard independently gives the price and the warehouse."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"hints that artificial intelligence-generated media may have played a key role in creating its veneer. ... images shared on the site couldn’t be found elsewhere on the internet through reverse image searches. Some bore known hallmarks of AI creation, most notably strange and nonsensical lettering.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"NBC News reported that the images on the event website could not be found elsewhere online through reverse image searches and that some bore known hallmarks of AI creation, notably nonsensical lettering, and said its examination hints that AI-generated media may have played a key role.","causal_attribution":"NBC News' own examination, hedged; the organiser did not comment."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"They had advertised the experience using AI-scripted posters and adverts.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"advertising materials included colorful art and lush descriptions of what sounded like an impressive theme park — but both were AI-generated","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Other outlets also described the advertising as AI-generated: the Evening Standard said the experience was advertised using AI-scripted posters and adverts, and Rolling Stone said the art and descriptions in the advertising were AI-generated.","causal_attribution":"Outlets' own statements; neither describes how it established AI generation."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Absolutely nothing like what was described,” said ... purchasing five tickets for her family made a sizable dent in her wallet. ... “It’s just not what I expected at all, and it certainly was not worth £35 per ticket,” she said.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"He said the children had been promised a \"full Wonka\" experience with chocolate fountains but his children only got two jelly babies and shared a can of limeade. ... \"Some families were very, very angry and had little children who were crying.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A mother who bought five tickets for her family said the event was absolutely nothing like what was described and not worth £35 per ticket; another parent said the children had been promised a full Wonka experience with chocolate fountains, and visitors described young children crying.","causal_attribution":"Attendees' own accounts in two outlets."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"By Saturday afternoon, the experience had been canceled and local police confirmed to NBC News that they were called to the scene after attendees who felt conned began demanding refunds. ... A spokesperson said in an email that it wasn’t a police matter but that officers offered advice to frustrated attendees. ... has received an email confirming her refund but hasn’t yet received the money in her account","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"\"We fully apologise for what has happened and will be giving full refunds to each and every person that purchased tickets.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The event was cancelled on the Saturday afternoon; Police Scotland were called after attendees demanded refunds and said it was not a police matter but offered advice; the organising company apologised and promised full refunds, and at least one parent had a refund confirmation but no money days later.","causal_attribution":"Police statement and company statement as reported."}],"effects":[{"label":"families paid £35 a ticket for an advertised experience and found a near-empty warehouse; children were upset and the event was cancelled","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/willy-wonka-inspired-chocolate-experience-outrage-rcna140726","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"NBC News, 28 February 2024 (datePublished in the page metadata), with its own reverse image searches and interviews with attendees and actors; read in full on 2026-10-24 (HTTP 200) by the research agent (an AI); no translation needed.","independence_group":"nbc-news-report"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://au.news.yahoo.com/organisers-apologise-disastrous-willy-wonka-173950494.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Evening Standard report syndicated on Yahoo News Australia, 27 February 2024; read in full on 2026-10-24 (HTTP 200) by the research agent (an AI).","independence_group":"evening-standard-report"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/willy-wonka-creator-apologizes-glasgow-1234979386/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Rolling Stone, 1 March 2024; read in full on 2026-10-24 (HTTP 200) by the research agent (an AI).","independence_group":"rolling-stone-report"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Whether the advertising images were AI-generated and with which tool; the organiser has not been reported confirming it.","How many tickets were sold and how many families attended.","Whether every ticket-holder was refunded."],"geography":{"basis":"The event took place in a warehouse in Glasgow, Scotland, and Police Scotland attended. The attendees' residence is not stated, so no affected-person country is recorded. No court is involved.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["GB"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-10-11 operator-published-content ruling: NBC News' own reverse image searches and its observation of AI hallmarks attribute the event's promotional images to AI with stated uncertainty, described parents bought tickets for the experience advertised and found a near-empty warehouse, and the event was cancelled with police called. AI involvement is recorded as suspected.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-24"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"NBC News found that the images promoting the event on its website could not be found elsewhere online by reverse image search and that some bore hallmarks of AI creation such as nonsensical lettering, and said AI-generated media may have played a key role; the Evening Standard and Rolling Stone describe the adverts as AI-generated without saying how they established it. Families bought tickets for the experience those materials advertised and found a near-empty warehouse. The organiser did not comment to NBC News, and no source reports an admission or a technical examination beyond NBC's, so the AI generation of the images is suspected.","status":"suspected"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Families paid for a Glasgow Willy Wonka-themed event advertised with images that appeared AI-generated and found a near-empty warehouse","summary":"A Willy Wonka-inspired 'Chocolate Experience' run by House of Illuminati in a Glasgow warehouse on 24 February 2024 promised oversized lollipops and a paradise of sweet treats, promoted with candy-coloured images on its website. Ticket-holders who paid £35 a ticket found a sparsely decorated warehouse; a mother who bought five tickets said it was nothing like what was described, and visitors described young children crying. The event was cancelled that afternoon, police were called as attendees demanded refunds, and the company apologised and promised full refunds. NBC News found the website images could not be traced elsewhere by reverse image search and that some bore hallmarks of AI creation such as nonsensical lettering; other outlets called the adverts AI-generated. The organiser did not confirm AI use to NBC News.","incidentDate":"2024-02-24","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2024-02-27","aiSystem":"An unidentified image-generation tool suspected of producing the event's promotional website images (per NBC News' examination); outlets also describe the adverts' text as AI-generated","aiProduct":"Unidentified image tool (suspected)","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to press reports, families who paid £35 a ticket for a Glasgow Willy Wonka-themed event, advertised with images that NBC News found bore hallmarks of AI generation, found a near-empty warehouse; children were reported crying, the event was cancelled and refunds were promised.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":2,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"Two ticket-buying parents are described: a mother who bought five tickets (NBC News) and a father who took his family (Evening Standard). Other attendees and the children are described only in general terms and are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"GB","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/willy-wonka-inspired-chocolate-experience-outrage-rcna140726","primarySourceLabel":"NBC News, 28 Feb 2024: Willy Wonka-inspired 'Chocolate Experience' in Glasgow draws outrage; images bore hallmarks of AI","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-24T03:13:28.750589+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-24T03:13:28.750589+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["suspected-ai-images","event-advertising","consumer","refunds","glasgow","scotland"]},{"id":"2025-bobo-owner-reports-unwanted-amazon-buy-for-me-orders","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"Using agentic AI capabilities, Amazon makes the purchase by securely providing the customer’s encrypted name, address, and payment details to complete the checkout process on the brand’s website.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"Amazon Nova and Anthropic’s Claude models support the Amazon Shopping app’s agentic capabilities to complete the purchase from start to finish on a customer’s behalf.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"brands have the choice if they want to participate and benefit from the increased brand visibility, customer engagement, and sales.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Amazon's announcement states that Buy for Me uses agentic AI to make a purchase on a brand's website on the customer's behalf, providing the customer’s encrypted name, address and payment details to complete the checkout.","causal_attribution":"Directly established by Amazon's own published description of the feature. It documents the design Amazon describes, not what happened in this merchant's store."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"she was shocked when, in late December, she discovered that her product catalog was available for sale on Amazon’s marketplace.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"a slew of unusual orders from an email address titled @buyforme.amazon. Many of the orders were for products that the brand no longer sold or were out of stock.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"“They just opted us into this program that we had no idea existed and essentially turned us into drop shippers for them, against our will,”","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The owner said that in late December 2025 she noticed a series of unusual orders from an @buyforme.amazon email address, many for products the brand no longer sold or had out of stock, discovered that her catalogue was for sale on Amazon, and said she had never opted into Buy for Me.","causal_attribution":"The owner's account to Modern Retail. Her statement that she never opted in is her own; Amazon's statement does not address her store specifically."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"to be fulfilled through","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"also received at least several orders for products that were either out of stock or no longer existed on her website.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"She said she canceled several of those purchases and issued refunds after realizing Amazon had enabled customers to order items that had been fully removed from her online store.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The owner said Buy for Me orders for her products were placed on Amazon.com to be fulfilled through her Shopify account, that she received at least several orders for products that were out of stock or no longer existed on her website, and that she cancelled several of those purchases and issued refunds.","causal_attribution":"The owner's account relayed by one outlet. The orders are described as placed through Buy for Me, which Amazon's announcement says its AI agent completes on the brand's website; Modern Retail does not describe inspecting the orders itself."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"to opt out, per the company’s FAQ page for sellers","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"remnants of her products remained on Amazon in the form of incomplete “shell” listings.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"We have received positive feedback on these programs,","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"and we remove them from these programs promptly.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The owner contacted Amazon to opt out and her products were removed, although she said incomplete shell listings with jumbled titles remained; Amazon told Modern Retail that businesses can opt out at any time by email and are removed promptly, and that it had received positive feedback on the programme.","causal_attribution":"The removal and shell listings are the owner's account; the opt-out policy and positive-feedback statement are Amazon's own to Modern Retail."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"erroneously displayed a photo of a pair of pants, a product that","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"It’s unclear where the image came from, but Amazon says it doesn’t generate AI images of a brand’s products.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"All product information, such as description, images, pricing and ratings, comes from merchant sites, according to Amazon’s FAQ page.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"One of the owner's products listed through Buy for Me, a vinyl sticker, showed a photo of a pair of pants that she has never sold; the image's origin is unclear and Amazon says it does not generate AI images of a brand's products.","causal_attribution":"Reported by the owner and Modern Retail; the wrong image is not attributed to AI generation and is recorded as an unexplained listing error."}],"effects":[{"label":"Owner-reported unwanted agent-placed orders for unavailable products, cancellation work and refunds","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"Owner-reported loss of control over where her catalogue is sold and lingering shell listings","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.modernretail.co/technology/brands-are-upset-that-buy-for-me-is-featuring-their-products-on-amazon-without-permission/","kind":"journalistic","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"modern-retail-merchant-interviews"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-shopping-app-buy-for-me-brands","kind":"official_statement","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"amazon-buy-for-me-announcement"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["work","finance"],"unknowns":["The date of the first Buy for Me order at her store, the number of orders, the total administrative cost and any net financial loss are not reported.","How her catalogue came to be listed (Amazon's FAQ says product information comes from merchant sites) and whether that listing step involved AI generation is not established; the wrong stock image is not attributed to AI.","The owner's Instagram video of 28 December 2025 and her self-reporting survey were not inspected; the survey's 145 responses are not counts of harmed people.","The agent acted for Amazon customers, not for the owner; the only relation recorded is the agent's completion of orders through her store's checkout."],"geography":{"basis":"Modern Retail describes the brand as based in Palm Springs, California, and the orders were fulfilled through her own store, so the event and the affected person are in the United States. No court is involved.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Modern Retail's merchant interview and Amazon's announcement were read in full on 2026-10-08. Amazon's own description establishes that Buy for Me's AI agent completes checkouts on brand websites, and the owner reports concrete agent-placed orders through her store, including orders for removed products that she had to cancel and refund. Her account is attributed and left at reported; Amazon's opt-out statement and its denial of AI-generated images are preserved; counts, dates and the origin of the listing are kept unknown.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-08"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Amazon's announcement states that Buy for Me uses agentic AI to complete the checkout on the brand's website on the customer's behalf. The owner reports that orders from an @buyforme.amazon address arrived at her store, several for products that were out of stock or removed, and that she cancelled those purchases and issued refunds. The agent's completion of checkouts for unavailable products is the AI activity connected to the cancellation and refund work; the appearance of her catalogue on Amazon and the wrong stock image are not established as AI acts.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Bobo Design Studio owner says Amazon's Buy for Me agent placed unwanted orders through her store without opt-in, forcing cancellations and refunds","summary":"The owner of Bobo Design Studio, a stationery brand that sells through its own Shopify store and has avoided Amazon, told Modern Retail that in late December 2025 she noticed a series of unusual orders from an @buyforme.amazon email address and discovered that her catalogue was listed for sale on Amazon through the Buy for Me feature, which she says she never opted into. Amazon's announcement says Buy for Me uses agentic AI to complete purchases on a brand's website on a customer's behalf. She said several orders were for products that were out of stock or no longer existed on her website, and that she cancelled several of those purchases and issued refunds. She contacted Amazon to opt out; Amazon says businesses can opt out by email and are removed promptly, and said it had received positive feedback on the programme. One listing showed a wrong stock image; Amazon says it does not generate AI images of a brand's products and the image's origin is unknown.","incidentDate":"2025-12-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-01-06","aiSystem":"Amazon Buy for Me shopping agent","aiProduct":"Amazon Buy for Me","aiCompany":"Amazon","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["professional_harm","loss_of_autonomy"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Owner-reported unwanted agent-placed orders for unavailable products, cancellation and refund work, and loss of control over where her catalogue is sold","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"One interviewed business owner describes the operational burden and loss of control. Orders, products, survey replies and customers are not counts of harmed people.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"agent","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.modernretail.co/technology/brands-are-upset-that-buy-for-me-is-featuring-their-products-on-amazon-without-permission/","primarySourceLabel":"Modern Retail, 6 January 2026: Brands are upset that 'Buy For Me' is featuring their products on Amazon without permission (Allison Smith)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-30T01:11:45.802533+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-08T03:21:59.094999+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["historical-2025"]},{"id":"2024-moxie-embodied-shutdown-grief","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"Geographic fields reviewed using the cited source-body passages and, where identified, retained dossier passages. Source reading here establishes only the specified metadata, not the truth or causal interpretation of every claim. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.","evidence":[{"kind":"source_body","locator":"Paragraph on Adero Harrison identifies a Florida family managing its child’s Moxie shutdown.","location":"https://pirg.org/articles/moxie-robot-open-source/","supports":["event_countries","affected_person_countries"],"countries":["US"]}],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"unresolved":["No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts."],"reviewed_on":"2026-09-15","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://pirg.org/articles/moxie-robot-open-source/","notes":"Body read. At least one affected family is located; the complete distribution of owners remains unknown.","access":"read","language":"en"}]},"name":"Moxie companion-robot shutdown: children's grief after Embodied's collapse","summary":"On 26 November 2024 Embodied Inc. told families that it was closing after a lead investor withdrew from a funding round, and that Moxie, its $799 cloud-dependent conversational robot marketed to children aged 5-10 and to families of autistic children, would stop working 'within days'. Parents posted videos of children crying as they were told their robot friend was going to 'die'; the company offered no refunds and a scripted letter from the fictional 'Global Robotics Lab' to help explain the shutdown. A peer-reviewed CHI 2026 case study of the company's communications and users' reactions found that, with no offboarding design, the emotional burden of ending the bond was shifted onto parents. The servers went dark at the end of January 2025; a volunteer-built local server, OpenMoxie, let some owners keep a reduced version running.","incidentDate":"2024-11-26","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"product_change","reportedDate":"2024-12-09","aiSystem":"Moxie (Embodied Inc.)","aiProduct":"Moxie","aiCompany":"Embodied Inc.","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":["dependency_creation"],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Children who had bonded with the robot showed acute distress when told it would stop working, documented in parents' videos and accounts reported by Popular Science, Aftermath, Gizmodo, Axios, PIRG and others and analysed in a CHI 2026 case study. Families lost the $799 purchase price with no refund. No clinical outcomes were documented.","frameworkFacets":["P2c","P4d"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"The record identifies one child through a named parent's account. Additional children and affected families are documented but not enumerated reliably.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"product_shutdown","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.popsci.com/technology/moxie-robot-offline/","primarySourceLabel":"Popular Science (Mack DeGeurin): 'I love you... goodbye:' What will happen when this companion robot suddenly dies?","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-05T11:55:06.391991+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:16:52.617316+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["companion","robot","children","minor","autism","shutdown","grief","embodied","moxie","attachment","us"]}]}