Beware of bad guys using AI to transplant victims' faces to threaten and blackmail

In contrast to the previous period when access to artificial tools to create Deepfake videos was quite limited, many AI tools such as Grok, ChatGPT, Meta AI, Gemeni, DeepSeek have been widely released and allow free use of basic features, including image creation. Users can create the desired image or even crop and edit without having to understand specialized processing techniques. This has led to an increase in the use of AI to create faces for purposes ranging from entertainment to threats on the internet.

Ms. YN (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) said that she was once a victim of AI-based image manipulation to threaten and was asked to pay a large sum of money if she wanted to retrieve "sensitive" data even though it was all created by artificial intelligence tools. Specifically, her personal images were collected by criminals and their faces were edited into bad content, creating sensitive chats and then coming to Ms. YN to blackmail her.

Criminals use AI to edit, crop and blackmail victims

"They showed me screenshots of the fake chats, images, and videos they created and asked for 100 million VND to delete the content. I have to admit that the composite images are unrecognizable as real or fake," the victim shared, adding that she had reported the above behavior to the authorities.

The case of Ms. YN is just one of many recent incidents involving the abuse of AI and image editing tools for malicious purposes. Currently, social media users in Vietnam are still very "carefree" in sharing personal images, friends and relatives online and publicly, despite many warnings from experts in the field of information security about this issue.

Recently, the Ministry of Public Security also sent a warning to phone users about the emergence of criminals taking advantage of people's images and videos that are publicly available on the Internet, then editing, cutting, and combining them to create sensitive content to threaten and blackmail. "People are advised to be vigilant when receiving messages or calls with the above content, and not to transfer money when threatened. When detecting signs of fraud or property extortion, they should quickly report to the nearest police agency and report via the VNeID application," the notice stated.

In addition to blackmail purposes, criminals can also use many public personal images and videos of the victim to create fake content to defame the reputation in the working environment, take personal revenge, and cause damage to the spirit and honor. Notably, these fake documents are increasingly sophisticated and difficult to distinguish for both ordinary people and those interested in the field of artificial intelligence.

A study conducted by Tidio, a Polish company that develops AI chatbots to support sales, late last year found that the majority of internet users are increasingly having trouble distinguishing between images generated by AI. The company claims that 87% of respondents confused AI images with photos of real people. In addition, 62% of respondents expressed interest in AI and machine learning, but half of this group failed to correctly identify images generated by artificial intelligence.

There are currently no specific regulations for the use of AI in cybercrime, but using other people's images to threaten, blackmail or spread false information can still be handled under provisions related to the crime of humiliating others, extorting property or spreading obscene cultural products.

Faced with this situation, experts recommend that users should be cautious when sharing personal images on social networks, and use security tools to control privacy.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/canh-giac-ke-xau-loi-dung-ai-ghep-mat-nan-nhan-de-de-doa-tong-tien-185241107153341681.htm