This might be the first ever AI-generated phishing scam

AI does a lot of stuff nowadays, and every day, it seems that there’s a new thing that it can do. Well, did you anticipate that it’d be able to scam you? That’s right! A new LinkedIn phishing scam might be the first-ever AI-generated phishing scam.

Obviously, there isn’t some rogue AI out there trying to scam users into giving up their information. The brain behind the scam is very much flesh and blood. Rather, it looks like the materials that make up the scam have been generated using AI.

This could be the first-ever AI-generated phishing scam

According to TechRadar, researchers at SafeGuard Security uncovered this phishing scam recently. It was an ad on the platform that shills a whitepaper for businesses to help them close more deals. The only thing is that the image used to promote it shows the telltale sign of an AI-generated image.

On the bottom right of DALL-E images, there is a succession of colored squares. They’re seen on the bottom of every image generated by the platform. Below, there’s an example.

Along with that, there are other red flags that set off the alarms. For starters, the LinkedIn profile was another major tell. The profile was pretty barebones. That should be the first clue that things aren’t on the up and up. Also, it has probably the most generic name for an account, Sales Intelligence.

The profile is empty, and the website link led to a jewelry store on Amazon. That’s an odd website for a profile offering a whitepaper.

When you follow the link in the ad, you’d then put in your personal information (again, another red flag) in exchange for access to the whitepaper. Suffice it to say, there is no whitepaper. Instead, the information that the user gave up will be used for the phishing scam.

If you see an ad for a whitepaper, see an ad with an AI-generated image, or see an account that’s empty, you’ll want to pass it up.