Scammers use the magic of artificial intelligence features and services to deceive unsuspecting Facebook users into downloading malware on their computers, according to the security company Bitdefender.
Over the past year, gangs have taken over Facebook pages and altered them to appear as legitimate artificial intelligence services, including the Sora video creation tool from OpenAI and its DALL-E image creation tool. The scammers then display ads on the Facebook ad network, promising viewers early access to experimental artificial intelligence research and products. Once users follow the pages, malicious individuals post AI-generated content on the page to make it look legitimate. They then instruct page followers that to use experimental artificial intelligence services, they need to download programs, which are actually malware like Relead, Vedar, Aicrat, and Nova, that steal their data.
Artificial intelligence has quickly become a prominent topic in technology. While hundreds of millions of people worldwide use tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E, there is a clear desire to see what is coming next – and experience it. Bitdefender found these targeted and deceived individuals. And in some cases, they seem to have succeeded.
Indeed, Bitdefender discovered the most famous Facebook page, Midjourney AI, which had 1.2 million followers before Facebook shut it down in March 2024. After Facebook removed the page for policy violations, other pages emerged, positioning themselves in a cat-and-mouse game.
