Diving into these AI-generated fake image scams that are scamming your grandparents

© Pexels/Pavel Danilyuk

While scrolling through social media, you may have already come across AI-generated images (children, cute or struggling animals, and other types of representations). You might think that Internet users are already vigilant about this type of fake content, but this is clearly not the case. We can read thousands of comments from users (often elderly people) who fall for it, so much so that these fakes represent a growing threat.

Fake animal rescues

The report “Spot the Scam: Unmasking Fake Animal Rescues”, produced by a network of 29 animal protection organisations, looked into the subject. Quoted by our colleagues at the site London Economic, Alan Knight, president of International Animal Rescue, comments as follows:

He therefore asks the platforms to better regulate and moderate this content which sometimes refers to donation pages to defraud their targets. The figures cited in this report published in October are quite spectacular.

Analysts identified 1,022 links showing fake animal rescue content in six weeks on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter/X. In 21% of cases, these malicious actors sent Internet users to donation requests, often on PayPal. Similarly, in 22% of cases, this content was directly suggested by the algorithms of these services.

Ultimately, these legitimate associations fear that this fake content will disrupt their animal rescue activities and that the general public will completely lose confidence.

Disasters exploited by cybercriminals

Unfortunately, these scammers do not limit their activities to these themes. To cite just one example, American media recently reported that Hurricane Helene, which killed hundreds of people in the southeastern United States, is already being exploited to extract money from Internet users who want to help.

As you will have understood, these scams are likely to multiply and we must be extra vigilant in the face of this scourge. We can also hope that social networks will improve their moderation of this content produced by AI and better protect their users.

Have you ever been able to spot these fake images when visiting these platforms ? Tell us in the comments.

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