Fake nude photos of over 100,000 women have been created from social media pictures and shared online, a new report has revealed.
Researchers from Sensity found the creepy images being shared on messaging platform Telegram.
In a report about the findings, Sensity researcher Giorgio Patrini explained: “Compared to similar underground tools, the bot dramatically increases accessibility by providing a free and simple user interface that functions on smartphones as well as traditional computers.
“To ‘strip’ an image, users simply upload a photo of a target to the bot and receive the processed image after a short generation process.”
Sensity’s investigation uncovered at least 104,852 women who had been targeted and had their personal images ‘stripped’ as of July 2020.
Around 70% of these images were taken from social media accounts, or private material.
Worryingly, a ‘limited number’ of stripped images featured girls who appear to be underage.
According to Sensity, the bot attracted over 101,000 members worldwide, with 70% coming from Russia and ex-USSR countries.
Following the discovery, Sensity reported the issue to Telegram, but is yet to receive a response.
Mr Patrini added: “All sensitive data discovered during the investigation detailed in this report has been disclosed with Telegram, VK, and relevant law enforcement authorities.
“We have received no response from Telegram or VK at the time of this report’s publication.”
