
Sydney Sweeney, Scarlett Johansson Among Top 10 Celebrities Used for Online Scams

Scarlett Johansson, Taylor Swift and Johnny Depp are among the celebrities whose identities are most often exploited for online scams.
Computer security company McAfee released its annual list (below) of the top 10 celebrity names with search results that tend to get compromised by hackers trying to rip off unsuspecting fans.
The actors’ likenesses are being used without permission on fraudulent schemes that peddle movie or song downloads, deals on celebrity-backed products, cryptocurrency investments or tickets to high-demand concerts. The scammers also sometimes use convincing-looking deepfake videos of the actors to get a fan’s bank account information or to install malware on their devices that could result in identity theft.
“With cybercriminals using advanced AI tools to create more convincing scams, the risks are growing, and celebrity names are the perfect bait for curious consumers,” said Abhishek Karnik, McAfee’s head of threat research, whose company sells protection software and a deepfake detector.
Computer security company McAfee released its annual list (below) of the top 10 celebrity names with search results that tend to get compromised by hackers trying to rip off unsuspecting fans.
The actors’ likenesses are being used without permission on fraudulent schemes that peddle movie or song downloads, deals on celebrity-backed products, cryptocurrency investments or tickets to high-demand concerts. The scammers also sometimes use convincing-looking deepfake videos of the actors to get a fan’s bank account information or to install malware on their devices that could result in identity theft.
“With cybercriminals using advanced AI tools to create more convincing scams, the risks are growing, and celebrity names are the perfect bait for curious consumers,” said Abhishek Karnik, McAfee’s head of threat research, whose company sells protection software and a deepfake detector.
- 10/8/2024
- by James Hibberd
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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