Online retailers—especially those in alcohol, vape, and tobacco—are facing a new kind of challenge that’s growing faster than most teams can keep up with: AI bots. These automated programs no longer behave like the simple scripts of the past. Today’s bots mimic real shoppers, bypass verification systems, scrape data, and overwhelm platforms with fake traffic.
Age-restricted industries are particularly vulnerable. High demand, strict compliance requirements, and valuable customer incentives make them ideal targets for bot operators.
According to Fastly’s Q1 2025 Threat Insights Report, 37% of all observed internet traffic in the commerce industry is from bots, and of that, 89% is classified as unwanted.
In this blog post, we’ll break down what AI bot traffic really is, why age-gated retailers should be concerned, and what modern defenses can help keep your business protected.
Understanding AI Bot Traffic: What It Really Is
Before tackling the problem, it’s important to understand what AI bots are and why they’re different from the automated scripts of the past. These intelligent programs mimic human behavior, adapt quickly, and can create a real headache for retailers trying to protect their platforms.
What Are AI Bots?
AI bots are automated programs powered by machine learning, natural language processing, and increasingly sophisticated decision-making engines. Unlike traditional scripts—which follow simple, repetitive commands—AI-driven bots can analyze patterns, change tactics, and imitate human behavior with surprising accuracy.
They can fill out forms, navigate product pages, guess credentials, and even “learn” from failed attempts. That adaptability is what makes them such a serious threat for age-restricted ecommerce.
Types of Bots Flooding Retail Sites
Bots come in many forms, each designed to achieve a specific goal. From scraping data to hijacking accounts, understanding the types of bots that can infiltrate your website is the first step toward defending against them.
Age Verification Evasion Bots
These bots are built to bypass or manipulate age checks—whether by autofilling forms, spoofing IDs, or exploiting weak verification systems. They can quietly slip past safeguards, creating serious compliance risks.
Scraper Bots
Also known as web scraping bots, these crawl your site to pull down pricing, product descriptions, stock-keeping unit (SKU) data, and even identity information if exposed. The stolen data can be used by competitors or fraudsters to gain an unfair advantage.
Account-Creation Bots
Designed to mass-register fake accounts, often to farm promo codes, referral credits, or free-trial incentives. This can inflate user numbers and drain marketing budgets quickly.
Account-Takeover Bots
These use stolen credentials to break into legitimate customer accounts and make unauthorized purchases, redeem loyalty points, or pull sensitive data. This can inflate user numbers and drain marketing budgets quickly.
Fake Traffic Bots
Used to generate the illusion of engagement—such as views, clicks, or cart activity—while overwhelming analytics systems. This can make it difficult to accurately gauge real customer behavior.
Credential-Stuffing Bots
These bots rapidly test username/password combinations taken from previous breaches to find accounts that reuse login details. Successful attacks can compromise multiple accounts in a short period.
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The Hidden Costs of Bot Traffic on Retail Operations
Bot traffic isn’t just a nuisance—it has real financial and operational consequences. From skewed data to customer dissatisfaction, understanding the hidden costs helps retailers prioritize defense strategies.
Fake Traffic Metrics
Bots distort KPIs like conversion rate, bounce rate, and session length, making it harder to understand real customer behavior. This can lead to misguided business decisions and wasted resources.
Customer Experience Degradation
Bots hog server resources, slow down page loads, and even cause temporary outages—frustrating real shoppers. A poor experience can drive loyal customers away faster than any competitor.
Financial and Security Risks
From stolen rewards to fraudulent purchases, bots create costly vulnerabilities that can add up quickly. These risks can directly impact your bottom line and operational stability.
Brand Reputation Damage
A breach or bot-driven attack can erode customer trust, especially in industries handling sensitive identity data. Once trust is lost, it can take months or even years to rebuild.
Drain on Marketing Budget
Account-creation bots can drain promo budgets by mass-claiming discount codes, referral bonuses, or trial periods—sometimes wiping out entire campaigns overnight. This reduces the effectiveness of marketing efforts and ROI.
Website Content Duplication
Scraper bots can steal website copy and repurpose it elsewhere, hurting search engine optimization (SEO) and creating confusion for shoppers. Duplicated content can also undermine your brand’s authority and search visibility.
How AI Bots Manipulate Age Verification Systems
Age verification systems are a critical line of defense for restricted products, but bots are learning to bypass them. This section explores the techniques bots use to fool verification mechanisms.
Form-Filling and CAPTCHA-Solving Bots
Modern bots can autofill forms and bypass basic CAPTCHAs using AI-powered image and pattern recognition. These bots can complete verification steps faster than any human, making detection challenging.
Synthetic Identity Creation
Bots generate fake identities—complete with fabricated dates of births (DOBs), Social Security numbers (SSNs), and addresses—to trick weak verification systems. This allows them to appear as legitimate customers and exploit restricted product access.
Exploiting Weak APIs and SDKs
If an age-verification application programming interface (API) isn’t properly configured or secured, bots can target endpoints directly. Even small misconfigurations can open the door to large-scale automated abuse.
Deepfake Manipulation
AI tools can create realistic fake selfies or ID images to fool visual match systems. As deepfake technology improves, these manipulations are becoming increasingly difficult to spot.
Proxy/Virtual Private Network (VPN) Servers
Bots rotate through thousands of internet protocol (IP) addresses, masking their origin and making it difficult for retailers to spot suspicious behavior. This can make even sophisticated tracking systems less effective at identifying malicious activity.
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Detecting AI Bot Traffic: Warning Signs Retailers Can’t Ignore
Early detection is crucial. By understanding the warning signs of bot activity, retailers can intervene before bots cause significant damage.
Behavioral Anomalies
Look for rapid page requests, form submissions that happen too quickly, or navigation patterns that don’t match human behavior. These unusual patterns often indicate automated scripts rather than real shoppers.
Technical Red Flags
Sudden spikes in traffic, unusual device fingerprints, and repeated hits from the same IP blocks are all telltale signs. Even small anomalies can signal larger, ongoing automated activity.
Verification System Failures
Multiple verification attempts, mismatched identity data, or floods of incomplete form submissions should raise alarms. These failures often reveal attempts to bypass age or identity checks.
Skewed Analytics Data
If your metrics suddenly look “too high” or inconsistent, bots may be inflating your numbers. Relying on these distorted metrics can lead to poor business decisions if left unchecked.
Modern Defense Tactics Against AI Bot Flooding
Combating AI bot traffic requires advanced, proactive measures. This section explores the latest strategies and technologies that can help retailers protect their platforms.
Behavioral Biometrics and Liveness Detection
These tools measure natural human signals—like face liveness—to catch bots in real-time. They allow verification without disrupting the experience for genuine users.
Network Intelligence
IP reputation scoring, device fingerprinting, and geolocation pattern checks help filter out suspicious traffic before it reaches your site. Early detection at the network level reduces the risk of downstream fraud.
Machine Learning Models for Bot Detection
AI-driven detection models can identify abnormal patterns and adapt to emerging bot behaviors. This proactive approach helps retailers stay ahead of evolving threats.
Identity Verification with AI Forensics
Advanced age verification systems now include forensic-level analysis to detect deepfakes, synthetic identities, and document tampering. This adds a deeper layer of confidence in customer identities.
CAPTCHA Alternatives and Frictionless Verification
Next-gen CAPTCHAs, invisible challenges, and passive verification tools reduce friction while keeping bots out. These solutions balance security with a smooth customer experience.
Integration with Regulatory Compliance Tools
Ensure age-gated retailers remain compliant while adding an extra layer of security against fraudulent access. Compliance integration also simplifies audits and protects against regulatory penalties.
How Retailers Can Prepare for the Future
Protecting your business from AI bot traffic is an ongoing effort. Future-proofing your strategy requires a combination of technology, collaboration, and customer education.
Proactive Monitoring
Continuous monitoring helps catch anomalies early—before they impact customers or compliance requirements. Early detection allows teams to respond quickly and minimize potential damage.
Continuous AI Training and Updates
Keeping machine-learning models updated ensures your defenses evolve alongside emerging bot tactics. Regular updates help maintain effectiveness against constantly changing threats.
Collaboration and Threat Intelligence Sharing
Sharing intel with industry groups, tech partners, and verification providers strengthens defenses across the board. Cooperation across the industry makes it harder for malicious actors to succeed.
User Education and Transparency
Educating customers on secure account practices can help reduce the success rate of credential-stuffing and takeover attempts. An informed customer base adds an extra layer of protection for your business.
Conclusion
AI bots are growing smarter and faster, and age-restricted retailers are right in their line of fire. By understanding how these bots operate and investing in modern defenses, businesses can protect their platforms, their customers, and their compliance efforts.
The threat is real, but with the right strategy, retailers can stay ahead of the bot surge and build a safer, more trustworthy online experience for legitimate shoppers.
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