Kaspersky warns that sharing personal context with these tools can facilitate identity impersonation and social engineering attacks.
A new trend has gone viral on social media: users share a personal photo and ask Artificial Intelligence tools to create a caricature or illustration based on their life, their job, and “everything the AI knows” about them. The result showing animated versions of the person at the office, with their family, or representing their profession has become frequent content on Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
While the trend may seem creative and entertaining, cybersecurity specialists warn that this practice can expose personal information and enable the creation of personalized, large-scale fraudulent messages, a very real threat today.
According to Kaspersky experts, this type of request does not work like a simple visual filter. To achieve more accurate images, people allow AI tools to access all the information associated with their profiles without restrictions, since the instruction itself is embedded in the command “create a caricature about me and my job based on everything you know about me.” In addition to the reference photo, extra data such as company name, corporate logos, job title, city, daily routines, hobbies, and other family details are often included and used to create the trend.
Each of these data points is a key piece in building a detailed digital profile. By combining image, text, and context, habits, relationships, frequently visited places, and professional responsibilities are revealed information that cybercriminals can exploit to craft more sophisticated scams. As a result, a fraud attempt that mentions where someone works, their job title, or even a family member becomes far more convincing and increases the likelihood that the victim will trust it and share sensitive information or money especially considering that in Latin America, nearly one in four users admit they do not know how to recognize a fake email or message, according to Kaspersky’s Digital Language study.
This type of carelessness is not isolated. According to the same Kaspersky study, 27% of users in Latin America admit they do not review the permissions requested by an application before installing it, either because the information is too extensive or because they simply do not pay attention.
In addition, when interacting with these platforms, users are not only sharing the final image. Depending on the service and its privacy policies, the original photo, the text or instructions written by the user, usage history, and certain technical data such as IP address, device, or interaction patterns may also be stored. Part of this information may be retained to operate the service, improve performance, or train Artificial Intelligence models, meaning the content does not necessarily disappear after the caricature is generated and may remain longer than users expect.
“The biggest risk is not the illustration itself, but everything people reveal to obtain it. When someone shares details about their work, their family, or their routine, they are unknowingly providing information that can be used for highly targeted fraud or identity impersonation,” says Leandro Cuozzo, Security Analyst from Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team in Latin America. “In this context, the cumulative exposure of personal data can become a gateway to social engineering attacks, identity theft, or personalized scams.”
While these tools can be a fun way to experiment with digital creativity, experts recommend adopting more cautious habits when participating in this type of trend. To reduce risks, Kaspersky experts recommend:
- Avoid entering identifiable data in prompts, such as full name, job title, company, city, address, schedules, or routines—even if it seems “just to personalize” the image.
- Do not upload photos that show logos, credentials, documents, license plates, screens, building façades, or any element that could help locate you or associate you with an organization.
- Do not share information or images of minors, nor reveal family details that could be used to impersonate close contacts or design emotional scams.
- Review the platform’s privacy policy and permissions before using it, especially regarding content retention and the use of data for training or service improvements.
- Complement caution with active digital protection: solutions such as Kaspersky Premium help reduce risks from malicious links, dangerous downloads, and phishing techniques associated with these trends, while reinforcing the security of the devices used to create and share this content.
For more information on how to protect your digital life, visit our blog.
