The FBI has warned internet users about the rising trend of malicious actors creating deepfake content to perform sextortion attacks. The users are requested to be cautious when posting or direct messaging personal photos and videos.
The threat actors are using the AI-based technology to manipulate good images or videos of victims into explicit content.
The photos and videos are typically captured from victims’ social media accounts or the open web, although sometimes they are directly received from the victim. These images are then fed into deepfake content creation tools that turn them into AI-generated sexually explicit content.
Although the produced images or videos aren’t genuine, they look very real. After altering the images or videos, they are posted to social media, pornographic websites and other publicly available websites.
The main motivations for this new campaign of deepfakes are for payment in money or gift cards, or to force the victim to send real nude and/or sexually themed content.
Both children and adults have been reported as victims, with the FBI warning that it can be extremely difficult to remove manipulated content once posted online.
FBI recommends that parents must monitor their children’s online activity and talk to them about the risks associated with sharing personal media online.
Similarly, adults posting images or videos online should restrict viewing access to a small private circle of friends to reduce exposure. At the same time, children’s faces should always be blurred or masked.
Image Credits : Safespace
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