Cybersecurity firm Check Point has uncovered a wave of online scams using the death of Pope Francis to deceive users. According to their research, scammers have been capitalizing on the tragic news by spreading fake stories and AI-generated content designed to steal personal data.
Check Point identified multiple social media posts on platforms like Instagram and TikTok that used the Pope’s death to lure users into clicking malicious links. One such post linked to a fake Google page promoting a gift card scam, attempting to trick people into paying money or providing sensitive information. Another TikTok post falsely claimed that the Pope’s death was a hoax, encouraging people to share it further. Additionally, some posts featured AI-generated images of the Pope to further mislead users.
These types of scams tend to surge during major news events, with hackers preying on people’s curiosity and emotional responses to attract them to fraudulent websites.
“Cybercriminals thrive on chaos and curiosity,” said Rafa Lopez, a security engineer at Check Point. “Whenever a major news event occurs, we see a sharp rise in scams designed to exploit public interest.”
This phenomenon, known as “cyber threat opportunism,” was notably prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, where Google detected up to 18 million malware and phishing messages per day related to the crisis.
Neither Instagram’s parent company Meta nor TikTok provided immediate comment on the issue.
