Kaspersky Warns of a Scam in the Name of OpenAI

Kaspersky Warns of a Scam in the Name of OpenAI
Kaspersky Warns of a Scam in the Name of OpenAI

Kaspersky Exposes a Dangerous Scam: Fake Official Messages in the Name of OpenAI Deceive Users

Kaspersky, the cybersecurity company, has revealed the detection of a sophisticated email fraud campaign targeting email users by exploiting the collaboration features and team invitations on the OpenAI platform. The attackers rely on sending messages that appear technically official, but carry misleading content and links aimed at deceiving victims and pushing them to interact in unsafe ways.

According to a press release issued by Kaspersky, the campaign relies on social engineering and exploiting trust in well-known tech brands, which increases its chances of success compared to traditional phishing methods.

How Does the Fraud Campaign Begin?

According to Kaspersky's analysis, the scenario begins with attackers creating a new account on the OpenAI platform. During the registration process, the platform asks the user to enter the organization name, which is a flexible text field that allows entering almost any data.

Fraudsters exploit this flexibility to enter:

  • Misleading phrases

  • Suspicious external links

  • Fake phone numbers

  • Signals suggesting urgency or threat

After creating what is known as the "organization profile," the attackers use the invite team members option to send direct invitations to the victims' email addresses.

Why Do the Messages Appear Convincing?

Kaspersky points out that the danger of this method lies in the fact that invitation messages are actually sent from official email addresses belonging to the OpenAI platform, which allows them to pass successfully through traditional email filters and reduces the level of suspicion among recipients.

This factor gives the messages high technical credibility, even though their content may be deceptive or inconsistent with the usual format of genuine team invitations within the platform.

Patterns of Fraudulent Messages and Potential Threats

Kaspersky has identified several types of messages used within this campaign, including:

  • Messages promoting fake offers or illegal services

  • Messages claiming there are problems with the account or subscription

  • Notifications asking the victim to call a phone number "to cancel high charges"

  • Voice phishing (Vishing) attempts aimed at stealing data or pushing the user to perform dangerous actions

The company confirmed that these methods may pave the way for broader attacks, including stealing login credentials, installing malware, or even compromising other accounts linked to the same email address.

Indicators That Help Detect the Fraud

Kaspersky experts pointed out that there are subtle signs that can reveal the falseness of these messages, most notably:

  • Different text formatting within the message template compared to the original format of OpenAI invitations

  • The presence of links or phone numbers in the "organization name" field

  • Threatening or unusually urgent language

  • Requests to communicate outside the official platform

However, the company warned that some users may not notice these details, especially with the growing daily reliance on cloud platforms and collaborative work tools.

Warning from Kaspersky Experts

Anna Lazarishcheva, Senior Anti-Spam Analyst at Kaspersky, said: These attacks shed light on potential vulnerabilities in how digital platform features can be exploited for social engineering purposes. Fraudsters use legitimate fields, such as organization names, to inject fraudulent elements and attempt to bypass email filtering systems, exploiting users' trust in well-known brands. She added that these campaigns underscore the need to review the design of certain digital platform features from a security perspective, not just a functional one.

Practical Guidelines to Reduce Risks

Kaspersky provided a set of important recommendations to protect users, most notably:

  • Do not interact with any invitation that was not previously requested

  • Carefully inspect links before clicking on them

  • Avoid calling any phone numbers included in suspicious messages

  • Rely only on contact information published on official websites

  • Report fraudulent messages to the platform's team

  • Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all accounts

Security Solutions Proposed by Kaspersky

The company referenced a number of its security solutions, including:

  • Kaspersky Security for Mail Server: A dedicated solution for businesses that provides multi-layered email protection using machine learning technologies

  • Kaspersky Premium: A solution aimed at individuals that includes advanced anti-phishing technologies powered by artificial intelligence

These solutions aim to reduce the chances of phishing attacks succeeding and to improve users' level of digital awareness and security.

Kaspersky: Global Expertise in Cybersecurity

Kaspersky is considered one of the world's leading companies in the field of cybersecurity and digital privacy, having been founded in 1997, and providing protection solutions for individuals and businesses worldwide. According to the company's data, it has provided protection for more than one billion devices and serves millions of users and approximately 200,000 business clients.

This content is part of a follow-up on Arabic websites and specialized blogs, alongside what is offered by Egyptian stores and Kuwaiti stores and vitamin stores and foreign websites, with reliance on Mashhor website for social media services as a primary source of information and updates.