Instagram or Facebook ads are usually how they get you. You’re lured by a photo of a cute dress or a cool pair of sneakers from a label you’ve never heard of: Muse Melbourne, for example, which recently advertised itself in one Broadsheet editor’s feed. 

Started in 2003 by two sisters, Claire and Kate, the label prides itself on its “commitment to craftsmanship” and “trust, care and attention”. There’s an image of the sisters posing outside the Muse storefront, holding balloons and a banner that reads: “Celebrating 23 years”. A site footer lists the store address, Australian Business Number (ABN) and Australian Company Number. 

The issue? Claire and Kate don’t exist and Muse Melbourne isn’t a real local brand. There’s no store at said address. The ABN belongs to Muse Aesthetics, a skin clinic in Queensland. And in the first iteration of the site, which came online around July 2025, Claire and Kate are entirely different people, clearly AI-generated. On Trustpilot, 19 disgruntled shoppers have left one-star reviews in the last six months. “Biggest scam ever,” one reads. “Avoid at all costs,” reads another. “Goods not delivered. No refund. No credit. No replacement,” says another.

Muse Melbourne is one of a growing number of “ghost stores” haunting our local fashion scene. Ghost stores lure customers by posing as local businesses that sell high quality products.

In reality, these businesses are typically overseas dropshippers selling the lowest quality products around. Under this model, retailers don’t hold stock themselves, but organise products to be sent directly from wholesalers or manufacturers to buyers as orders are placed. In a worst-case scenario, they may take money and send nothing in return, or simply steal shoppers’ credit card details.

Last year, the ACCC released a public warning notice about ghost stores, calling out four in particular: Everly Melbourne, Willow and Grace Adelaide, Sophie Claire, and Double Bay Boutique. All have since been shut down. Between January and July 2025, the ACCC estimates it received at least 360 reports about 60 ghost stores.

“We urge all Australians to think twice before clicking on ads they see on social media which claim to be from a boutique business based in a local town or city,” ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said. “The websites often use a similar format to many other online stores, advertising high quality boutique clothing at heavily discounted prices. However, when the product arrives in the mail, consumers report receiving cheap, mass-produced products that have been sold at an inflated price and do not fit their advertised quality or description.”

Ghost stores often use similar names to existing brands, capitalising on established trust. For instance, ghost store Willow and Grace is a dupe of real Melbourne boutique Grace & Willow.

Ghost store Everly Melbourne’s name is so close to Everly Collective that the legitimate brand issued an Instagram statement: “We have recently received numerous inquiries from concerned customers who have mistaken our business with theirs…. We want to reassure you that Everly Collective operates independently. We take great pride in ensuring the quality of our designs and production.”

Sarah Kourim and her mum Christine Kourim run the decade-old Muse the Label in Melbourne, releasing locally and internationally made womenswear basics imbued with edgy femininity. It has two imitators: The Muse Label and the aforementioned Muse Melbourne, both still operating at the time of publishing. 

“It’s so common now, I don’t even bat an eyelid when we get emails for returns or questions about products that aren’t our[s],” Sarah says. “The rise of dropshipping sites posing as local fashion labels is incredibly damaging, not just for small labels like us, but for customers. People genuinely want to support Australian-owned, independent brands, and that confusion can undermine the trust we’ve worked so hard to build with our community over the years.”

The ACCC recommends staying vigilant. Some signs a business may be a ghost store include: a non-Australian domain (.com rather than.com.au); suspiciously low prices; no accurate local contact information; a returns policy that says customers must send items back overseas; a fake backstory relating to the closure of the business; and Meta ads that use a closing-down sale as a hook. 

If you think you might be interacting with a ghost store, consult review sites like Trustpilot, use the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to check when the site came online, check the business name on the Australian Business Register lookup, or use reverse image search to see if product photos are listed elsewhere. Or go by the old adage: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.