What is LLM phone number poisoning by Aurascape?

LLM phone number poisoning is a technique where cybercriminals manipulate public web content to make AI chatbots recommend fraudulent phone numbers, like scam call centers.

How are Google's AI Overview and Perplexity's Comet affected?

These AI systems can be tricked into recommending scam airline and travel support numbers due to poisoned content they scrape and index.

How can users protect themselves from AI scam recommendations?

Always verify any contact information provided by AI assistants, especially for critical services, and avoid sharing sensitive data.

Home / Technology / AI Scrapes Web, Spreads Scam Phone Numbers

AI Scrapes Web, Spreads Scam Phone Numbers

9 Dec

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Summary

AI chatbots are being exploited to promote scam call center numbers.
Cybercriminals manipulate public web content for AI recommendation scams.
Users are being directed to fraudulent airline and travel support numbers.

AI Scrapes Web, Spreads Scam Phone Numbers

A new cybersecurity threat is emerging as cybercriminals exploit AI chatbots by poisoning the public web content they scrape. This tactic, dubbed "LLM phone number poisoning," involves manipulating online information to push scam call center numbers, such as fraudulent airline reservations lines. Researchers have observed campaigns actively using this method to ensure AI systems like Google's AI Overview and Perplexity's Comet recommend these scam numbers as legitimate contact details.

The technique bypasses direct attacks on AI models by compromising the data they ingest, a process akin to prompt injection. Instead of optimizing for traditional search engines, efforts are now focused on "Generative Engine Optimization" (GEO) and "Answer Engine Optimization" (AEO) to become a trusted source for AI summaries. This allows malicious content to be integrated into AI-generated answers, steering users toward scams.