The last image that makes the buzz on Facebook shows a tears in front of his plate of ravioli, the day of his birthday. Legend has it that she was abandoned in a retirement home by her children. Thousands of Internet users rush to support him in the comments. Except that This grandmother does not exist. His face was created from scratch by artificial intelligence, for the sole purpose of trapping the most vulnerable users.
“Traps Boomers”, a well -established scam industry
These artificial images, baptized “Boomers Traps” Or “senior traps”, have been flooding social networks for several months. Facebook is particularly affected by this phenomenon. The crooks broadcast there daily Hundreds of photos generated by AI Staging touching situations: children proud of their artistic achievements, veterans of crippled war or craftsmen presenting impossible works.
These images play on the sensitive rope of users. The crooks use subjects that cause strong emotions – babies, kittens, the elderly – to push Internet users to lower their guard. A technique that works wonderfully: these publications regularly accumulate hundreds of thousands of likes and comments.
Artificial intelligence has gave new life to this form of scam. Image generation tools like Midjourney or Dall-E now allow you to create ultra-realistic visuals in a few seconds. Schools can thus produce viral content in an industrial way, at a lower cost.
From commitment to scams, a lucrative business
Behind these apparently harmless images hides a well -oiled scam mechanics. The first step is to massively generate commitment to increase the visibility of the pages in Facebook algorithm. Once they reach an important audience, these pages become real gold mines.
Some crooks sell them at gold prices on the Dark Web. Others use them as a gateway to fraudulent sites filled with deceptive advertisements. Internet users who click on these links are then found exposed to all kinds of scams: Theft of personal data, false promotions, fictitious dating sites … The limits are only those of the imagination of scammers. Even more worrying, these publications allow “grazers” – crooks specializing in sentimental scam – to easily identify their future victims. People who comment on these images are indeed considered to be particularly gullible and vulnerable. Then it is enough for grazers to send mass messages to these users hoping that one of them bits with the hook.
Meta, the Facebook parent company, has tried to put in place protective measures. Since last May, the images generated by AI have been supposed to be identified by a label “Made with AI”. But in fact, The vast majority of “traps boomers” escape this labeling. The platform does not seem in a hurry to solve the problem: These viral content generates many commitments and therefore substantial advertising revenues.
The situation may even get worse with the recent abandonment of the Fact-Checking system on Facebook and Instagram. Experts call for better regulation of the content generated by AI and advise users of vigilant. In the meantime, “traps boomers” continue to proliferate, every day making new victims among the most vulnerable Internet users.
- Schools use AI to create touching images that massively trap seniors on Facebook
- These “traps boomers” are used to identify potential victims for more elaborate scams
- The platforms struggle to regulate this phenomenon which brings them money through the generated commitment
