{“lastseen”:”2025-10-14T14:58:49″,”description”:”Gone are the days when extortion was only the plot line of crime dramas\u2014today, these threatening tactics target anyone with a smartphone. As AI makes fake voices and videos sound and look real, high-pressure plays like sextortion, deepfakes, and virtual kidnapping feel more believable than ever before, tricking even the most digitally savvy users. Gen Z and Millennials are most at risk, accounting for two in three victims of extortion scams. These scammers prey on what\u2019s personal, wreaking havoc on their victims\u2019 privacy, reputations, and peace of mind.\\n\\n\\n\\nOur latest research shows that one in three mobile users has been targeted by an extortion scam, and nearly one in five has fallen victim. Gen Z is hit hardest: more than half (58%) have been targets, and over 1 in 4 (28%) have been a victim. Sextortion\u2014threatening to leak nude photos or videos or expose pornographic search history\u2014 is particularly notable, with one in six mobile users reporting they\u2019ve been a target. Among Gen Z, that number jumps to 38%.\\n\\n## Five things to know about mobile extortion scams\\n\\n### **1\\\\. Who\u2019s most at risk: Gen Z and Millennials with a risk tolerant profile**\\n\\nCompared to victims and targets of other types of mobile scams, extortion victims tend to be younger, male, and mobile-first. Their profile:\\n\\n * **Young:** 69% of victims and 64% of targets are Gen Z or Millennial (vs. 52%\/40% of victims and targets of other types of scams, respectively)\\n * **Male:** 65% of victims and 60% of targets are male (vs. 48%\/45%)\\n * **Parents:** 45% of victims and 41% of targets are parents (vs. 36%\/26%)\\n * **Minorities:** 53% of victims are non-white (vs. 39%)\\n * **Mobile-first:** 52% of victims and 46% of targets agree _\u201cI\u2019m more likely to click a link on my phone than on my laptop\u201d_ (vs. 42%\/36%)\\n\\n\\n\\nHowever, this simply shows how targets and victims skew. Behaviors typically play a bigger role in overall risk.\\n\\n### 2\\\\. What the damage looks like: emotional and deeply personal\\n\\nExtortion criminals use personal, high-stakes threats in their scams. Victims and targets of extortion scams in our survey report experiences ranging from scammers threatening to expose nude photos and videos to claims that a family member was in an accident.\\n\\nThese personalized, high-pressure threats make extortion victims especially vulnerable, and while victims of all mobile scams suffer serious emotional, financial, and functional fallout at the hands of their scammers, extortion victims experience outsized impact:\\n\\n * **Nearly 9 in 10** extortion victims reported **emotional harm** because of the scam they experienced\\n * **35%** experienced **blackmail or harassment**\\n * **21%** experienced **damage to their reputation**\\n * **19%** faced **consequences at work or school**\\n\\n\\n\\nEven when targets don\u2019t fall victim, the threats alone can cause emotional harm:\\n\\n\\u003e \u201cI didn’t lose anything, I was just **scared** because they wanted to inform all my friends, family, and employers how perverted I was because I supposedly watched porn.\u201d \\n\\u003e \\n\\u003e \u2014Gen Z survey respondent, DACH region\\n\\n\\n\\n### 3\\\\. Why it\u2019s getting worse: AI is raising the stakes\\n\\nAI is increasingly good at making fake feel real, giving criminals even more of an advantage when manipulating and extorting victims. One in five mobile users has been the target of a deepfake scam and nearly as many have encountered a virtual kidnapping scam (a decades-old tactic that now often uses AI voice cloning). Two in five (43%) Gen Z users have been a target of one of these.\\n\\nWho AI scams hit: Victims and targets skew Gen Z and iPhone users with a deep digital footprint. This could leave their personal information, images, or even voice more accessible to cybercriminals who want to use it as part of a scam.\\n\\n * **Gen Z:** 45% (vs. 31% for extortion victims and targets overall)\\n * **iPhone users:** 62% (vs. 51% overall)\\n * **Data sharers*:** 81% (vs. 71% overall)\\n\\n\\n\\n_*Agree with the statement: \u201cI understand that sharing personal information with apps, on social media, or on messaging services can be risky, but I am okay with that risk\u201d_\\n\\n\\n\\nSo why might exposure be higher for Gen Z? Digital natives are most entrenched in mobile-first behavior and most active in low-oversight casual commerce (DMing for deals, using buy\/sell\/trade groups, clicking on ads to purchase or download, sending money for a future service). They also show up more on alternative platforms like Discord, Tumblr, Twitch, and Mastodon, where identity checks are lighter and parasocial trust runs high, creating a sweet spot for scammers. \\n\\n\\u003e \u201cThe scammer makes you believe it is a legit conversation. They\/He\/She talk to you like they know you. Trying to convince you they are supporting\/helping you in some way to fix something. When they are just fishing for more information!\u201d\\n\\u003e \\n\\u003e _\u2014 Gen Z US Survey Respondent _\\n\\nFor victims of AI-driven scams, the fallout is even more extreme: 32% suffered reputation damage (vs. 21% for extortion victims overall), 29% suffered work\/school consequences (vs. 11%), 24% had their personal information stolen (vs. 14%), and 21% had financial accounts opened in their name (vs. 13%), underscoring the threat of these evolving scams. \\n\\n### 4\\\\. Where the risk lives: constant, cross-channel exposure \\n\\nScammers know the more they approach a target, the more likely they are to create a victim. 78% of extortion victims and 63% of targets experience scam attempts daily (vs. 44%\/36% in other scam groups), driving alert fatigue and making it more likely that a scammer will slip through the cracks.\\n\\nExtortion victims and targets also over-index on using informal buying and selling channels\u2014spaces like social media where identity is fuzzy, protections are lacking, and decisions are quick. Being in more casual spaces more frequently increases the odds of a scam landing for anyone.\\n\\n### 5\\\\. How mindset shapes risk: overconfident and under-protected\\n\\nSeven in ten extortion victims say they\u2019re confident they can spot a scam, more than half believe they could recoup any financial losses, and most trust their phone\u2019s safety features. At the same time, many victims and targets simply don\u2019t worry about mobile scams at all, resulting in a lack of protective measures. Adoption of security basics (security software, strong\/unique passwords, multi-factor authentication, timely system updates, permission hygiene, data backups) remains low, even after painful firsthand experience. \\n\\n## How to cut the risk\\n\\nMost of us use our phones to shop, find deals, and pay\u2014and we deserve to be able to do that safely. Adopting preventative security measures (such as using mobile security software), practicing good mobile hygiene (such as checking app permissions), and remembering **STOP** , our simple scam response framework, can keep scammers at bay: \\n\\n**S** \u2014Slow down: Don\u2019t let urgency or pressure push you into action. Take a breath before responding. Legitimate businesses like your bank or credit card don\u2019t push immediate action.\\n\\n**T** \u2014Test them: If you answered the phone and are feeling panicked about the situation, likely involving a family member or friend, ask a question only the real person would know\u2014something that can\u2019t be found online. \\n\\n**O** \u2014Opt out: If it feels off, hang up or end the conversation. You can always say the connection dropped.\\n\\n**P** \u2014Prove it: Confirm the person is who they say they are by reaching out yourself through a trusted number, website, or method you\u2019ve used before.\\n\\nThe criminals behind extortion scams pour time and money into targeting their victims, constantly evolving their tactics to make the scams more believable and hard-hitting. If you\u2019ve been the victim of an extortion scam, sharing your story can help others spot the signs before it\u2019s too late, reduce the stigma of being a victim, and put the shame where it belongs: on the criminals.\\n\\nAs Malwarebytes Global Head of Scam and AI Research Shahak Shalev puts it:\\n\\n\\u003e \\”If we can remove the stigma and silence around scams, I think we can help everyone take a step back and pause before acting on one of these threats\\”\\n\\n* * *\\n\\n**We don ‘t just report on scams\u2014we help detect them**\\n\\nCybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. If something looks dodgy to you, check if it’s a scam using Malwarebytes Scam Guard, a feature of our mobile protection products. Submit a screenshot, paste suspicious content, or share a text or phone number, and we\u2019ll tell you if it’s a scam or legit. Download Malwarebytes Mobile Security for iOS or Android and try it today!”,”published”:”2025-10-14T12:45:00″,”modified”:”2025-10-14T12:45:00″,”type”:”malwarebytes”,”title”:”AI-driven scams are preying on Gen Z\u2019s digital lives\u200b”,”source”:””,”references”:””,”id”:”MALWAREBYTES:545D8FEF88E5D39EED7772331BC69A93″,”bulletinFamily”:”blog”,”cwe”:null,”cvelist”:[],”sourceData”:””,”sourceHref”:””,”cvss”:{“score”:0,”severity”:”NONE”,”vector”:”NONE”,”version”:”NONE”},”cvss2″:{},”cvss3″:{“version”:””,”vectorString”:””,”baseScore”:0,”baseSeverity”:””,”attackVector”:””,”attackComplexity”:””,”privilegesRequired”:””,”userInteraction”:””,”scope”:””,”confidentialityImpact”:””,”integrityImpact”:””,”availabilityImpact”:””,”cvssV3″:{“version”:””,”vectorString”:””,”baseScore”:0,”baseSeverity”:””,”attackVector”:””,”attackComplexity”:””,”privilegesRequired”:””,”userInteraction”:””,”scope”:””,”confidentialityImpact”:””,”integrityImpact”:””,”availabilityImpact”:””}},”href”:”https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/blog\/news\/2025\/10\/ai-driven-scams-are-preying-on-gen-zs-digital-lives”,”category_name”:”News”,”post_link”:””,”product”:””,”version”:””,”vendor”:””,”ai_description”:””,”ai_severity”:””,”ai_vendor”:””,”ai_product”:””,”ai_version”:””,”ai_score”:0}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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