Blackmailers are using deepfake nudes to threaten and extort victims, warns FBI

the fbi has issued a consultant Warning of “rise” in extortion schemes involving fake nudes created with the help of AI editing tools.

The agency says that as of April this year, there has been an increase in the number of reports of such “sexual exploitation” schemes. Malicious actors find benign images of a victim on social media, then edit them using AI to create realistic and sexually-explicit content.

The photos are sent directly to victims for sextortion or harassment by malicious actors, the agency writes. “Once circulated, victims may face significant challenges in preventing the continued sharing of manipulated content or its removal from the Internet.”

The FBI says blackmailers typically use such material to demand actual nude images or some form of payment from victims. The agency says: “The major motivators for this are more illegal content, financial gain, or threatening and harassing others.”

The agency recommends that the public “exercise caution” when sharing images of themselves online, but it’s tough advice to follow. Only a few images or videos are needed to create a deepfake, and no one can be completely safe from such extortion schemes unless they All Own images from the web. Nevertheless, individuals can covertly photograph in real life if they know their target personally.

Nude deepfakes first began spreading online in 2017, when users on forums like Reddit began using new AI research methods to create sexually explicit content of female celebrities. While some efforts have been made to combat the online spread of this material, tools and sites for creating deepfake nudity are readily available.

The FBI notes that such extortion schemes “may violate numerous federal criminal laws.” There are also a limited number of global laws that criminalize the creation of such non-consensual fake images. For example, in Virginia in the US, deepfakes have been outlawed as a type of “revenge porn”, while the UK is currently planning to make the sharing of such images illegal in its upcoming Online Safety Bill. .