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Celebrities have an aura that attracts their fans to their content. Using this crazy fanbase as a weapon, hackers and scammers plant cybercrimes in the online landscape. This came to light in a McAfee report that listed the top 10 celebrities in a "Hacker Celebrity Hot List". Here's how these hackers plant crimes against the loyal fans of big names, including Emily Blunt, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Jennifer Lopez, Elon Musk and more.

Hackers who manufacture these celebrity-based crimes aim to snatch personal information and infect a device with malware. The attacks can range from identity fraud to ransomware threats by encrypting files. These attackers pair names of celebrities with terms such as free download, free ringtone, deepfake, lyrics, free movie, MP4 and more to rank results that lead to notorious sites.

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The aim is to grab internet users who are on the lookout for downloading content revolving around these celebrities. Despite the associated risks on these sites, fans download or search the terms that could lead to malicious websites, which, in a few cases, might be tough to track.

Scams around Elon Musk revolved around deepfake technology and cryptocurrency. (Image:Pexels)

Steve Grobman, CTO of MacAfee, cautioned that if things "sounds too good to be true, it generally is a risk and deserves a closer look." Grabman was discussing the context of free content download from the internet. With the use of AI, hackers are also resorting to deepfakes. Scams around Elon Musk revolved around this type of technology and cryptocurrency. Deepfakes are further used in false ads and recreational use cases.

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Other notable celebrities on the list include Zendaya, Al Roker, America Ferrera, Lionel Messi, Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian.

How To Be Safe?

McAfee suggests users only head to reliable news sites to check updates about these celebrities. For streaming content or listening to music, you must resort to established streaming sites and audio platforms. Plus, do not enter personal or banking details on websites that display spammy ads and notifications. Installation of an antivirus and updating the device for added protection is recommended.