Global online protection company McAfee unveiled its annual ‘Celebrity Hacker Hot List 2024’, identifying Indian celebrities whose names generate the “riskiest” online results. This year’s results show that the more popular or viral a celebrity is, the more appealing their names are for cybercriminals looking to exploit their fame to create malicious sites and scams. These scams often lead to significant data breaches, financial losses, and personal information theft.
Topping the list for India is Orhan Awatramani, also known as Orry. His sudden rise in popularity, association with other high-profile celebrities, and surge in content have made his name an appealing one for cybercriminals to exploit. This highlights how cybercriminals take advantage of the flood of unverified information around new or upcoming public figures to lure consumers searching for updates. Following him on the list is singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh, who’s upcoming ‘Dil-Luminati’ concert tour has been plagued with concerns around ticketing scams. Large-scale events like these are often exploited due to overwhelming fan interest and a surge in search volume, leading to fraudulent ticketing sites, discount or re-sale schemes and phishing scams.
The rise of generative AI and deepfakes has further complicated the cybersecurity landscape, with many celebrities becoming victims of misinformation. Leading actress Alia Bhatt has been subjected to multiple deepfake incidents, while actors Ranveer Singh and Aamir Khan have been falsely depicted endorsing political parties through election-related deepfakes. Personalities like Virat Kohli and Shahrukh Khan have also appeared in deepfake content promoting betting apps. Scammers capitalize on fans’ curiosity using tactics like malicious URLs, deceptive messages, and AI-driven image-audio-video scams resulting in financial losses and damaging the reputation of and consumer trust in impacted celebrities.
“It’s easy for individuals to fall into the trap of clicking on malicious links, often misled by clickbait content promising free tickets or downloads—especially if it features a celebrity’s likeness. Imagine a world where your favourite celebrity stars in an advertisement they’ve never filmed, or a politician delivers a speech they’ve never given. This is the reality we face today. AI-generated deepfakes use existing content to manipulate faces, voices, and even actions. While some deepfakes are harmless fun, others can spread misinformation, influence elections, damage reputations, or scam consumers. If something seems too good to be true, it likely is. To protect oneself and loved one’s online privacy and identity, it’s important to remain vigilant,” said Vonny Gamot, McAfee’s Head of EMEA.
Top Ten on India’s McAfee Hacker Celebrity Hot List
The top ten list, which includes a combination of longtime talent and more recently well-known names, is as follows:
1. Orry (Orhan Awatramani)
2. Diljit Dosanjh
3. Alia Bhatt
4. Ranveer Singh
5. Virat Kohli
6. Sachin Tendulkar
7. Shahrukh Khan
8. Deepika Padukone
9. Aamir Khan
10. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Earlier this year, a McAfee survey revealed that 80% of Indians are now more concerned about deepfakes than a year ago, with 64% stating that AI has made it more difficult to spot online scams. 75% of Indians reported to have seen deepfake content, 38% have encountered a deepfake scam and 18% have been a victim of a deepfake scam. Among those affected by deepfake scams, 57% mistook a celebrity video, image, or recording for authentic, with 31% suffered financial loss as a result. Of those who fell prey to a voice cloning or other deepfake/AI scams, 64% lost money, with 43% losing more than ₹40,000 and 10% losing more than ₹800,000.
McAfee’s Celebrity Hacker Hot List serves as a stark reminder for consumers to understand how AI scams and deepfakes work, and how they can best protect themselves from online threats. McAfee’s Threat Research Labs Team created the Celebrity Hacker Hot List by identifying the high-profile celebrities most frequently used in malicious activities and deepfake scams. These scams often generate unsafe search results that could lead consumers to unknowingly install malware and jeopardize their data, privacy, and identity.
Consumers can do their part by being vigilant in practicing safe online behavior with the following tips:
· Be careful what you click. Whether you’re looking for concert tickets, gossip on who your favorite celebrity is dating, or movie reviews, it’s important to exercise caution and only click on links to reliable sources.
· Refrain from illegal streaming and downloading suspicious files. No matter how much you want to hear the latest trending song or get a peek at the newest blockbuster movie, it is important to only use legitimate streaming platforms, even if they come at a cost. Many illegal downloads are riddled with malware or adware disguised as legitimate files.
· Only download videos from well-known, legitimate sites. Don’t download anything from a website you don’t trust — especially video – even if it looks like a personal message that your favorite celebrity wants to send you, take a step back and make sure it’s a reputable site.
· Don’t “log in” or provide other information. If you receive a message, text or email, or visit a third-party website that asks for your information — including your credit card, email, home address, or social media login — to grant access to an exclusive story, don’t give it out. Such requests are a common tactic for phishing that could lead to identity theft.
· Invest in holistic online protection like McAfee® Total Protection. Use products that provide maximum identity, privacy, and device protection. Help keep yourself and your family safe online with protection that detects and protects against suspicious links and sites (even those that promise to bring the latest in celebrity news!), so you can browse online with greater confidence.
· Scrutinize Social Media: Social media can be a fun place to engage with content your friends, family, and followers share – and it is also an easy place to fall victim to a scam. With 79%1 of social media users globally saying it’s difficult to spot AI-generated content such as fake news and scams, it’s critical to validate shocking or dubious claims and to avoid sharing or engaging with social content that hasn’t been verified. Even commenting on a post or clicking on a link makes you more susceptible to scams and misinformation.
· Be careful of Deepfakes: Be careful of Deepfakes: AI has made it easier to create fake videos or images. These videos can be used for bad things. look for small inconsistencies in the content. Is there unnatural blinking, odd eye movements, or unusual-looking hands or teeth? Does the audio not quite match the speaker’s lips or have a distorted quality?
Methodology
The study was conducted by McAfee® threat intelligence researchers to determine the number of risky sites and amount of misleading content generated by searching a celebrity name with commonly used terms. A risk score was calculated for each celebrity. McAfee’s WebAdvisor browser extension leverages McAfee’s technology to protect users from malicious websites and, when turned on, rates nearly every internet website it finds, using red, yellow and green icons to indicate the website’s risk level and blocking access to or warning a user if they click on a malicious or risky URL link. Ratings are created by using patented advanced technology to conduct automated website tests and works with Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox.
