Cybersecurity giant McAfee says thieves are increasingly using the names of popular US celebrities to lure consumers to online scams.
In a new report, McAfee says the emergence of artificial intelligence has allowed cybercriminals to exploit the names and images of movie stars and social media influencers to trick people into clicking malicious links.
“The advent of AI has revolutionized many industries, but it’s also given cybercriminals a powerful new tool: the deepfake. In addition to phishing scams and links containing malware that exploit the popularity and reputation of celebrities and deceive their fans, these highly realistic video or audio clips can mimic the likeness of a person, making it nearly impossible to tell whether the content is real or fake.”
The tech firm says deepfake videos look so convincing that a consumer may click a link for a fraudulent product, not knowing that they’re about to download malware that steals funds and personal information, including bank account details.
Topping the names of McAfee’s Celerity Hacker Hotlist, which are names of personalities often exploited for online scams, are actress Scarlett Johannson, reality star Kylie Jenner and singer Taylor Swift.
Cybercriminals also widely use the names and likenesses of Anya Taylor-Joy, Tom Hanks, Sabrina Carpenter, Sydney Sweeney, Blake Lively, Johnny Depp and Addison Rae.
According to McAfee, its research team created the ranking based on the number of risky sites and the amount of fake content generated after searching for a celebrity’s name combined with widely used terms. Celebrity names were subsequently given a risk score through an analysis of known deepfakes witnessed between January 1st and September 15th of this year. The analysis also takes into account the results from the firm’s WebAdvisor browser extension, which rates the risk level of a website.
Says McAfee,
“For fans, the consequences can be devastating, with financial losses ranging from a few hundred dollars to over half a million… For celebrities, these scams can have a serious impact on their public image and brand.”