All you need to know about Ghibli scams

Ghibli art or images have become so trendy these days that you might have noticed that they have taken over most of the portrait photos of our friends and family on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp profile pages. But at the same time, many cybersecurity organizations, experts and agencies like Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Police have issued several warnings against the use of Ghibli or similar AI-based Japanese-style animated portraits. They make you vulnerable to user profiling, frauds like identity theft and data misuse with the help of your personal inputs and a wide range of permissions on your smartphone. Especially since they are hosted outside India, these AI-based platforms request your smartphone or computer’s camera, microphone, contact list, photo gallery and permission to operate in the background and use it to steal your data. They also install malware code that tracks how and what users type and uses it to steal your money by stealing your user ID and password information. In this article, I will tell you about the various cybersecurity and privacy risks that these Ghibli-like apps pose to users without their knowledge.

Studio Ghibli is a famous Japanese animation studio, known for its films such as Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, which are of such high quality and artistic quality. The films produced by their app have received critical and popular acclaim and have greatly influenced other animation studios. Ghibli art or images became very famous or trended recently when Open AI organization released it for users of its ChatGPT application. This style gives images a touch of hand-drawn detail and the use of vibrant color palettes to make them more exciting and expressive, making them visually appealing and allowing common people to display their creative side with minimal knowledge or effort. According to a report, the global market for facial recognition technology is expected to reach $5.73 billion by 2025 and grow at a CAGR of 16.79%, which is expected to reach $14.55 billion by 2031.

Cybercrimes committed using Ghibli Art app are as follows :-

• Many websites that offer free downloads of Ghibli Art and images created from it are often the cause of malicious cyber activities. For example, they can infect their smartphone or computer devices with various harmful software including viruses, malware without the user’s knowledge, which can lead to potential data and wealth loss.
• Cyber ​​scammers can use popular Ghibli characters and art as bait in phishing scams. These fraudulent campaigns often offer fake contests, giveaways, or free download links for Ghibli art. If you click on any of these links, you could be subject to theft of personal data, financial information, or delivery of counterfeit goods or disappearing entirely after payment.
• Even more concerning is the threat of ransomware and spyware hidden within “free” digital Ghibli images – for example, after downloading wallpapers, screensavers, or animation packs, files on our computers can be locked, browser/user data can be stolen, or content in the user’s personal files can be used to commit a variety of cybercrimes.
• Cybercriminals impersonate popular Ghibli artists, trick you into paying money under the guise of painting Ghibli paintings or steal your private details and use it to trick you.
• Cybercriminals use images uploaded by users for Ghibli films and the metadata in those images to commit various cybercrimes such as deepfakes and identity theft.