How a fake ‘Vera Hill’ profile became a sextortion machine

A rampant, yet elaborate deepfake scam has been circulating online, with viral links drawing millions of curious clicks, with users being promised explicit content.

By stealing the alias of real Filipina influencer Vera Hill, also known as ChiChi, users are directed to what they believe is an official website, but is actually a phishing hub that tricks users into giving up credentials.

While the scam has primarily circulated in Southeast Asia, the phishing tactics could potentially reach users worldwide.

A typical video from ChiChi, who has over 2.4 million followers, draws comments like “addicted” and “good lord, amen,” showing that while a pinup can have legions of admirers, it can also serve as convenient bait for malicious actors.

The scam is implemented across a multitude of apps, including WhatsApp, Telegram, and X.

By throwing a few deepfakes into the mix, topped with hyperbolic words in the clickable links like “leaked” or “viral,” visitors are lured into the hacker's cyber trap disguised as viral entertainment.

On the phony portal, users are prompted to enter social media credentials or install software, allowing hackers to steal logins and secretly install malware or spyware.

And in some extreme cases, victims’ images are superimposed onto explicit AI-generated videos as an extortion tactic, especially if the target has entered their social media credentials in an attempt to view the Vera Hill content.

The scam follows a similar effort that cropped up in early February when fake claims of a “Pinay (Filipina) gold medallist” were made alongside “videos that are breaking the internet.” In this case, however, both real and fictional people were used as teasers, including the influencer gymnast Zyan Cabrera, who was falsely labelled a gold medallist in gymnastics.

Her intimate posts with her boyfriend were essentially repurposed to build a narrative and then drop the leaked video after a couple of bait videos. The key point being that there is no explicit video with Cabrera, as there isn’t one of Vera Hill.

Users are advised not to click on “leaked” or “viral” links and to enable two-factor authentication on social media accounts.

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