New Study Warns of AI-Driven Extortion Attacks

A study from Malwarebytes has found that one in three mobile users has been targeted by an extortion scam, and one in five of these users has fallen victim. Additionally, one in six users has been targeted by sextortion, with a higher number of these attacks (38%) affecting Gen Z users.

“These personalized, high-pressure threats make extortion victims especially vulnerable, and while victims of all mobile scams suffer serious emotional, financial, and functional fallout at the hands of their scammers, extortion victims experience outsized impact,” Malwarebytes says.

Notably, AI has drastically improved the sophistication of these scams, particularly involving deepfakes in sextortion attacks.

“For victims of AI-driven scams, the fallout is even more extreme: 32% suffered reputation damage (vs. 21% for extortion victims overall), 29% suffered work/school consequences (vs. 11%), 24% had their personal information stolen (vs. 14%), and 21% had financial accounts opened in their name (vs. 13%), underscoring the threat of these evolving scams,” the researchers write.

Shahak Shalev, Malwarebytes’s Global Head of Scam and AI Research, stated, “AI has poured gasoline on extortion scams, making it easier than ever to target people with real or manipulated images or videos paired with real information about them from the dark web.

“These ruthless scams weaponize shame, exploiting our deepest fears to force quick decisions and fast payouts. I want to remove the shame associated with scams and instead encourage people to share their stories to help educate others. If we can remove the stigma and silence around scams, I think we can help everyone take a step back and pause before acting on one of these threats.”

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Malwarebytes has the story.