BENGALURU: In a new trend, cyber criminals are now targeting social media influencers, particularly women influencers, by posing as brands or agencies offering lucrative collaboration opportunities.
These scammers request personal information, photos, and videos under the guise of professional partnerships. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deepfake technology, the criminals morph this content to create compromising content, which they later use for blackmail or extortion.
Bengaluru police have raised alarms about this growing trend. City police Commissioner B Dayananda highlighted how cybercriminals exploit social media platforms by luring influencers with fake collaboration offers. The scammers collect personal information, photos, and videos, which are then morphed to threaten the victims. They extort money by warning victims that the content will be shared with family members or posted on social media
The senior officer also advised the public to avoid interacting with unknown individuals on social media. In case of such incidents, citizens are urged to contact the cyber crime helpline number ‘1930’ or reach out to the nearest police station.
Another senior officer told TNIE that cybercriminals are closely monitoring accounts of young content creators to lure them with fake offers for advertisements and collaborations. Young girls are frequently targeted, with criminals threatening to share morphed images or videos on social media or with family members to extort money. Users have to be cautious about unsolicited partnership proposals. Individuals are advised to contact brands or agencies directly through official channels to verify the legitimacy of such offers, the officer said.
Further, he added that scammers often demand ‘trial’ videos for projects, providing their own content, which they later morph for extortion purposes.
The officer further added that, in some cases, scammers send APK links disguised as forms for collaboration, which are used to steal sensitive data.