World Cup 2026: excitement on the field, opportunity for cybercriminals

And although this trend has become a fun way to imagine what it would be like to experience a tournament on the court, experts from the digital security service Kaspersky warn that behind these videos there are also important risks for privacy and digital security.

This is because to generate these scenes, many platforms request high-quality photographs of the face and even additional data such as country of origin, gender or age to personalize the experience. The problem is that, once uploaded, these images can be stored on external servers, used to train artificial intelligence systems, or left exposed in the event of data leaks.

Furthermore, the face is a unique biometric data. When combined with information such as nationality, sports tastes or social networks, It can facilitate the creation of digital profiles that are later used in fraud, identity theft or increasingly personalized phishing campaigns.

Analysts also warn about the growth of fake content generated with AI from real images shared on viral trends. A selfie used today to appear “on the podium” could end up being reused later in fraudulent profiles, misleading advertisements or manipulated videos without the person’s authorization.

In this context, the main risk is that the excitement of participating in the trend makes users act quickly and without checking who they are giving their image to. Many of these tools appear for a few days, are promoted on social networks and do not always make it clear who operates them, where they store the information or how long they keep the uploaded files.

In fact, according to a Kaspersky study, 18% of users in Peru admit that they do not review the permissions that an application requests before installing it, either because the information is too extensive or because they simply do not pay attention to it. This lack of transparency and review can turn a passing experience into a transfer of data that is difficult to track or delete later.

“These types of trends demonstrate how artificial intelligence is changing people’s relationship with their digital privacy. Today many users provide high-quality images of their face, along with information such as their country, sports tastes or facial expressions, without thinking that they are sharing extremely sensitive biometric data. The problem is that, once uploaded to these platforms, photos can be stored, reused to train AI models, or even end up exposed after a leak. Furthermore, in massive events, cybercriminals take advantage of emotion and virality to collect information and build more complete digital profiles, which can then be used in fraud, identity theft or much more credible and personalized phishing campaigns,” says María Isabel Manjarrez, security researcher in the Global Research and Analysis Team for Latin America at Kaspersky.

To reduce risks, Kaspersky experts:

• Check what permissions the platform requests before uploading any photo and avoid those that ask for unnecessary access to the camera, gallery or location
• Avoid sharing selfies where minors, documents, uniforms, addresses or any visible personal information appear.
• Read the privacy policies to verify if the images will be stored, reused or used to train artificial intelligence models.
• Be wary of viral apps or sites that promise “free” results but they request registration with social networks, too many personal data or payment methods.
• Use security solutions that help identify fraudulent linksfake pages and possible identity theft attempts.