A new trend on social media has users sharing personal photos and asking AI tools to create caricatures or illustrations based on their life, job, and everything the AI knows about them. While this trend may appear creative and fun, cybersecurity experts warn that it can expose personal information and create opportunities for large-scale fraud.

When users request AI to generate images, they often provide additional data such as company names, job titles, hobbies, and family details, which are used to improve the accuracy of the caricatures. This information helps build detailed digital profiles that cybercriminals can exploit to craft more convincing scams. As a result, scams that mention someone’s job, workplace, or family member can become more believable, increasing the likelihood of victims falling for them and sharing sensitive information.

This risk is particularly concerning in the APAC region, where high AI adoption is coupled with lower technical literacy, making users more vulnerable to phishing and social engineering attacks. In addition to the images, users may unknowingly share other personal data, including the original photo, instructions, usage history, and technical information like IP address and device details, which could be stored by the service for AI model training or improving performance.

Experts warn that these caricature creation trends may seem harmless, but they effectively provide cybercriminals with the context needed to create highly personalized and convincing phishing attacks.

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