With the festive season ongoing, reportedly there has been a rise of online scams. From artificial intelligence (AI)-powered fraud to scam calls, everything’s happening at a larger rate. Among these, one of the most highlighted ones could be a new AI-powered scams. This is called ‘celeb-bait.’ To combat these AI-powered scams, Meta is bringing a new ‘facial recognition’ feature. Here’s a detailed look of how and why the scam can pose a threat to you!
Decoding ‘Celeb-bait’
The new scam surfacing is known as ‘celeb bait’. So, what is ‘celeb-bait’? So,’celeb-bait’ scams, use images of famous people to trick users into engaging with ads that lead to scam websites. These ads often encourage you to share personal information or send money. The trap lies here! You think this is coming from any celebrity/ recognised person, but it’s not. These are mostly AI-powered deepfakes of the original celebrity. This makes you think that you are interacting with something authentic, such as a celebrity-endorsed product or investment. And then you end up falling for their trap eventually.
For example, we have often come across advertising which shows celebrity faces promoting those ads. Most of these faces are not exactly the original faces of celebrities. This is the same case that is used to execute the ‘celeb-bait’. Most of the ‘celeb-bait’ scams are executed through Facebook and Instagram ads.
The safety road ahead
So, how is Meta helping to stay safe from these scams? Meta is testing facial recognition technology in its ad review system. If an ad gets flagged as potentially suspicious and contains an image of a public figure, Meta will do an authentication test. The face showcased in the ad will be compared with that celebrity’s official Facebook or Instagram profile picture. If both the profiles match then it will give a heads up about its authenticity. But in case it doesn’t match and it turns out to be a scam, Meta will block the ad immediately.
In this technology Meta uses a mix of automated systems and user reports to spot and shut down these fake accounts.As of now, to build an authentic profile, users need to upload official documents such as ID card for verification. However, Meta will also plan to bring a faster and simpler way by introducing video selfies. Video selfies allow users to upload a video of themselves. Then Meta compares this video to their profile picture. The video is then encrypted and stored safely for future reference.
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