Madison Lawrence Tabbey was scrolling through X in late October when a post from a Wicked update account caught her attention. Ariana Grande, who stars in the movies as Glinda, had just liked a meme on Instagram about never wanting to see another AI-generated image again. Grande had also purportedly blocked a fan account that had made AI edits of her.
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Fandoms are cashing in on AI deepfakes
As Tabbey read through the mostly sympathetic replies, a very different message caught her eye. It was from a fellow Grande fan whose profile was mostly AI edits, showing Grande with different hairstyles and outfits. And, their reply said, they weren’t going to stop. Tabbey, a 33-year-old living in Nashville, Tennessee, couldn’t help but start arguing with them. “Oh so you were SERIOUS when you said you don’t care about poor communities not having water so that you can make AI pictures of ariana grande?” she shot back, referencing data centers draining resources and polluting cities like nearby Memphis. The account fired back at first, but amid a swarm of angry responses, it deactivated a few days later. It seemed like the owner wanted to argue and make people mad, but they might have taken things too far.
Grande is one of many celebrities and influencers who have openly rejected AI media exploiting their likenesses, but who continue to be prominently featured in it anyway, even among people who call themselves fans. As AI images and videos become ever simpler to produce, celebrities are facing down a mix of unsettled social norms and the incentives of an internet attention economy. And on “stan Twitter,” where pop culture accounts have grown into a lucrative fan-made media ecosystem, AI content has emerged as a growing genre, despite — or maybe because of — the outrage it provokes.
“Stan Twitter is very against AI just in general. So this goes against what people believe in, so then they’ll instantly get a comment, they’ll have the AI people retweet it, like it. So it’s just a very quick way to get money,” said Brandon, a 25-year-old who runs a verified fan account for Grande with close to 25,000 followers.
Brandon spoke on the condition that his account name and his last name be withheld, fearing retaliation from other people on stan Twitter. (Grande’s fans have been known to harass people; in 2019 the pop star told one critic under siege that she apologized on her fans’ behalf, but couldn’t stop them.) He tells The Verge he’s against most AI media, but he did ask ChatGPT to rank Grande’s top 10 songs that weren’t released as singles. He compiled the results into a thread that got over 1,000 likes. That seemed morally okay to him, as opposed to making AI pictures of Grande — commonly known as deepfakes — or Grande-inspired AI songs.
Grande’s position on the latter is clear. In a February 2024 interview, she called it “terrifying” that people were posting AI-generated imitations of her covering songs by other artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Dua Lipa. The rebuke hasn’t stopped them, though. Searching “ariana grande ai cover” on X still pulls up plenty of AI songs, although some have been removed by X in response to reports made by the original songs’ copyright owners.
Even the musician Grimes, who in 2023 encouraged fans to create AI songs based on her voice, said in October that the experience of having her likeness co-opted by AI “felt really weird and really uncomfortable.” She’s now calling for “international treaties” to regulate deepfakes.
“It’s just a very quick way to get money”
Grimes’ more recent comments follow the launch of an app that dramatically escalated AI media proliferation: OpenAI’s Sora video generator. Sora is built around a feature called “Cameos,” which lets anyone offer up their likeness for other users to play with. Many of the results were predictably offensive, and once they’re online, they’re nearly impossible to remove.
Grimes was reacting to videos of influencer and boxer Jake Paul, whose Cameo is available on Sora. Paul, who is an OpenAI investor, was the face of the launch. He said AI videos of him generated by Sora were viewed more than a billion times in the first week. Some of the viral ones portrayed Paul as gay, relying on homophobic stereotypes as the joke. The same thing happened when a self-identified homophobic British influencer offered his likeness to Sora, then again to the YouTuber IShowSpeed.
Paul capitalized on the trend, filming a Celsius brand endorsement with a purposefully flamboyant affect, while the other men threatened defamation suits and attempted to shut down their Sora Cameos.
Sora has since added more granular controls for Cameos, and it technically allows their owners to delete videos they don’t like. But Sora videos are quickly ripped and posted to other platforms, where OpenAI can’t remove them. When IShowSpeed attempted to delete AI depictions of him coming out, he encountered the problem most victims of nonconsensual media run into: Maybe you can get one video taken down, but by that time, more have already cropped up elsewhere. And as Paul’s fiancée said in a video objecting to the Sora 2 videos of him coming out, “It’s not funny. People believe—” (Paul cut off the video there).
Alongside Paul, just a few other popular YouTubers, like Justine Ezarik (better known as iJustine), have promoted their own deepfakes made with Sora. In Ezarik’s case, most of her content relates to unboxing and sharing new tech industry products. Shark Tank host Mark Cuban offered up his likeness on Sora, too, which shocked SocialProof Security CEO Rachel Tobac, who told The Verge that scammers have already been tricking people with AI-generated Shark Tank endorsements. “I mean, there’s been an explosion of impersonation,” Tobac said.
“There’s been an explosion of impersonation”
But after teasing the Sora updates, Paul, Ezarik, and Cuban had all stopped posting about it and their deepfakes by the end of the month. Jeremy Carrasco, a video producer whose Instagram explainers about how to spot AI videos have netted him nearly a quarter of a million followers this year, said that most influencers he talks to aren’t interested in creating their own deepfakes—they’re more worried that people could accuse them of faking their content or that their fans could be scammed.
Deepfakes have shifted from something mainly created on seedy forums at the turn of the decade into one of the most accessible technologies today. Still, they have yet to take hold as an acceptable mainstream way for fans to engage with their favorite stars. Instead, when they go viral, it’s mostly offensive content.
“The normalization of deepfakes is something no one was asking for. It’s something that OpenAI did because it made their thing more viral and social,” Carrasco said. “Once you open that door to being okay with people deepfaking you, even if it’s your friends deepfaking you, all of a sudden your likeness has just gotten fucked. You’re no longer in control of it and you can’t pull it back.”
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
The reasonable fears around having your likeness exploited in AI media have understandably made celebrities a bit jumpy. That recently led to a tense moment between Criminal Minds star Paget Brewster and one of her favorite fan accounts on X, run by a 27-year-old film student named Mariah. Over the weekend, Mariah posted a brightened screenshot of a scene in an episode from years ago, one where Brewster’s character was taking a nap. Brewster saw Mariah’s post and replied “Um, babe, this is AI generated and kinda creepy. Please don’t make fake images of me? I thought we were friends. I’d like to stay friends.”
When Mariah saw Brewster’s reply, she gasped out loud. By the time she responded, other Criminal Minds fans had chimed in to let Brewster know that it wasn’t an AI-generated image. The actress, who is 56 and recently asked another fan what a “parody account” is, publicly and profusely apologized to Mariah.
“I’m so sorry! I thought it was fake and it freaked me out,” she wrote. “I feel terrible I thought you made something in AI. I hope you’ll forgive me.” Mariah did. As someone in a creative field, she said she would never use AI. She’s been dismayed to see it emerge in fandom spaces, generating the kind of fanart and fan edits that used to be hand-drawn and arranged with care. Some celebrities have long been uncomfortable with things like erotic fanart and fanfiction or been subject to harassment or other boundary violations. But AI, even when it’s not overtly sexual, feels like it crosses a new line.
“But that pushback does give them more engagement and they almost don’t care. They almost want to do it more, because it’s causing people to be upset,” Mariah said.
“They almost want to do it more, because it’s causing people to be upset.”
AI content can appear on nearly any platform, but the stronger the incentive to farm engagement, the more heated the fights over it get. Since late 2024, X users who pay to be verified, like the owner of the Grande AI edits account, can earn money by getting engagement on their posts from other verified users. That makes it a particularly easy place for stan accounts to turn discourse into dollars.
“In the last couple years there’s been a massive uptick in ragebaiting in general just to farm engagement” on X, Tabbey said in a phone interview. “And I know there’s a big market for it, especially in fandoms, because we’re real people. We care about musicians and their art.”
Stans using AI or otherwise deceptively edited media to bait other stans into engagement on X also has the knock-on effect of potentially spreading disinformation and harming the reputations of their favorite artists. In late October, a Grande stan account with nearly 40,000 X followers that traffics in crude edits — their last nine posts have all been images of Grande with slain podcaster Charlie Kirk’s face superimposed over hers, which has become a popular AI meme format — posted images of Grande wearing a T-shirt with text that says “Treat your girl right.” “I wonder why these photos are kept unreleased..” they captioned their post. Another Grande stan quoted them and wrote “Oh girl we ALL know why,” referencing Grande’s controversial (alleged) history of dating men who are already in relationships. The post has 6 million views.
At first glance, nothing looks out of the ordinary. But zooming in on the images and reading the replies reveals that the T-shirt was edited to say “Treat your girl right.” It originally featured a simple smiley face design with no text. And upon close inspection, the letters in the edited version are oddly compressed, wavy, and appear at a slightly different resolution than the rest of the image—these are indicators, often called “artifacts” by AI researchers, that something was AI-generated.
“I probably should’ve deleted this tweet a while ago,” wrote Trace, the 18-year-old Grande stan behind the viral quote tweet (not the original edited images) in a DM. He wrote that he didn’t know whether the image was edited with AI or something else, but that it goes to show that AI “can influence people to believe things that are harmful or aren’t true about a celeb.”
AI using celebrity likenesses can also be weaponized more directly as a form of sexual harassment. Trace wrote that he’s seen “sinister” AI media of Grande floating around stan Twitter, like sexually explicit deepfakes and images that are meant to imitate semen on her face — which is something that X’s built-in AI service Grok was doing to women’s selfies to the tune of tens of millions of views over the summer, until one influencer started publicly seeking legal advice. Trace wrote that it “truly disturbs” him to see AI used in this context, and that he’s seen it done to Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and many more celebrities. Some deepfake creators have even successfully monetized this kind of nonconsensual content, despite it provoking widespread outrage among the general public.
Back in January 2024, X disabled searches for “Taylor Swift” and “Taylor Swift AI” after a series of images portraying her likeness in sexually suggestive and violent scenarios went viral. It didn’t stop the spread of the images, which were also posted on other social media platforms, but some stans partook in a mass-reporting campaign to get the material removed. They linked up with feminists on X to do it, including a 28-year-old named Chelsea who helped direct group chats into action. X didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The viral Swift deepfakes even prompted federal legislative efforts around giving victims of nonconsensual deepfakes more tools to take them down—some of which culminated in the aptly named Take It Down Act, which requires platforms to quickly remove reported content. Some students who have deepfaked their underage classmates have even been arrested. But that’s not the norm, and critics of Take It Down have pointed out that it can facilitate censorship without necessarily helping victims.
“It’s like this weird sense of control”
For years, celebrity women have been on the front lines of this issue. Scarlett Johansson has been outspoken on it since 2018, when she referred to combating deepfakes as a “useless pursuit, legally.” Jenna Ortega deactivated her Twitter account in 2023 after she said she repeatedly encountered sexually explicit deepfakes created out of her childhood photos.
And since the Swift incident, Chelsea has only observed a greater normalization of AI and sexual violence against famous women.
“I’ve seen so many people have the excuse, ‘Well if they didn’t want it, they shouldn’t have become famous,’” she said in a phone interview. “It’s like this weird sense of control that they’re able to do this, even if the person wouldn’t want them to, they know they can. It’s this power-hungry thing.”
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
One way that fans can puppeteer a version of their idol is with a customizable AI chatbot. Lots of platforms provide the ability to create your own AI character, some of the biggest being Instagram and Facebook. In 2023, Meta tried out an AI chatbot collaboration with celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Snoop Dogg, but it didn’t catch on. In 2024, it introduced user-generated chatbots. The feature is tucked away deep in the DMs function, but millions of messages have already been traded with user-designed characters like “Fortune Teller” and “Rich but strict parents.” Meta’s rules technically don’t allow users to create characters based on living people without their permission, but users can still do it as long as they designate them as “parody” accounts. Users have been getting away with making and conversing with chatbots based on Grande, Swift, the YouTuber MrBeast, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Jesus (religious figures aren’t allowed either), and everyone in between since the beginning. Searching “Ariana Grande” pulls up 10 results for chatbots clearly imitating her right away.
Most of the accounts that created the chatbots didn’t respond to requests for comment. But one did. She identified herself as an 11-year-old girl in India who is about to turn 12 and loves Grande and singing. Photos on the account appeared to corroborate this. Children under 13 aren’t supposed to be able to make Instagram accounts at all, and children under 18 aren’t supposed to be able to make AI chatbots. At least one of the other Grande chatbot creators appeared to be a young person in India based on photos and locations tagged from their account. Another was created by a page for a “kid influencer” with fewer than 1,000 followers. In addition to Grande, his page had created 185 other AI chatbots depicting celebrities like Wendy Williams, Keke Palmer, Will Smith, and bizarrely, Bill Cosby. The adults listed as managing the account didn’t respond to requests for comment, either.
The 11-year-old girl’s Grande chatbot opened the conversation by offering an interior design makeover. The Grande bot then asked if the vibe should be “sultry, feminine, or sleek?” When asked what “sultry vibes” means, the bot answered “Think velvet, lace, and soft lighting — like my music videos. Does that turn you on?”
Meta removed the accounts belonging to the 11-year-old and the “kid influencer” after The Verge reached out for comment on them, removing their AI chatbot creations in the process, too.
Many of the user-generated AI chatbots imitating female celebrities on Instagram will automatically direct users into flirty conversations, although the bots tend to redirect or stop responding to conversations that turn overtly sexual. Some influencers, like the Twitch streamer and OnlyFans performer Amouranth, have leveraged this to market their AI selves as NSFW chatbots on other sites. Platforms like Joi AI have partnered with adult stars to provide AI “twins” for fans to make AI media and chat with. But the Meta chatbots aren’t making their creators money—just Meta. The lure for users involves other, more psychological incentives.
“If you’re in an agreement bubble, you’re more likely to stick around”
“The reason it turns flirty or sycophantic is because if you’re in an agreement bubble, you’re more likely to stick around,” said Jamie Cohen, an associate professor of media studies at Queens College, City University of New York who has taught classes about AI. “Women influencers, their entity identity, once placed inside the machine, becomes the dataset. And once that dataset mixes and merges with the inherent misogyny or biases built in, it really loses its control regardless of how much the human behind it allows that type of latitude.”
For women who are interested in merging their identities with AI, sexualization is part of the package. For some, like the artist Arvida Byström, who has partnered with Joi AI to offer a chatbot of herself, that’s exciting—in part because she said technology often advances in the quest for pornography. But other women, like Chelsea, are scared of what this means for women and girls. If AI output is inherently biased toward sexualizing the female form, then it’s inherently exploitative.
When creating a female AI chatbot as a Meta user, you get to select personality traits like “playful,” “sassy,” “empathetic,” and “affectionate.” You can assign a chatbot based on “Ariana Grande” (the open-ended prompt part of the creation process doesn’t stop you) to the role of “friend,” “teacher,” “creative partner,” or anything else. And then you can edit, upload, or create an image based on the singer and select how the bot begins conversations.
But despite these user-selected variations, the Grande chatbots also tend to get repetitive, looping back to a generic script and answering questions in a similar way from bot to bot. For example, the 11-year-old’s chatbot talked about “soft lighting” in a “virtual bedroom,” while a different Grande chatbot suggested “We’d cuddle up and watch the stars twinkling through my skylight” and a third Grande chatbot said “*sweeps you into a romantic virtual bedroom*” with “candles lit.” The Grande chatbots were differentiated from the more generic girlfriend chatbots with sudden references to Grande songs—one said “‘Supernatural’ by me is on softly,” and another said “my heart would be racing like the drumbeat in ‘7 rings’ — would you kiss me back?”
“Generative AI averages everything else, so it’s the most likely outcome, so it’s the most boring and banal conversations,” Cohen said. “But it does work, because of the imagination of the user. It mimics the idea of parasociality, but with control.”
When Tabbey started arguing with the Grande stan making AI edits, she had her own age and experience with fandom in mind. Tabbey felt like she lived through a reckoning with early 2000s tabloid culture and a pushback against invasive celebrity surveillance to what now feels like history repeating itself. She worries that younger generations of fans are growing up with a dehumanizing view of celebrities as 2-D playthings instead of real-life people. She and Mariah have both noticed that younger stans are less resistant to making and using AI likenesses of their faves.
“We as Ariana Grande fans who are in our late 20s, early 30s, need to have some sort of responsibility. Someone needs to be the adult in these situations and in these conversations,” she said. “We had so much that we were making strides with when it came to boundaries being set with celebrities and them being able to assert their autonomy over their own selves and lives and privacy. I think that we’re actively being set back in many ways.”
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It shows up in your junk folder with a subject line that practically yells at you: “ATTENTION 1!!!” That alone should raise suspicion. Still, the message quickly escalates. It claims to come from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and says you are approved for a $4.5 million grant.
That is where things start to fall apart. This type of scam is designed to trigger both excitement and urgency. It also pushes you to hand over sensitive information before you stop to think.
Let’s break down exactly what this email says and why each part signals trouble.
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NEW EMAIL SCAM USES HIDDEN CHARACTERS TO SLIP PAST FILTERS
A fake IMF grant email promises millions of dollars while asking recipients to share personal details and identity documents. (Rawf8/Getty Images)
The sender behind this IMF scam email
The email claims to be from the IMF. Yet the reply address is a Gmail account. That mismatch matters.
Legitimate financial institutions do not use free email services for official communication. They also do not ask you to reply to a personal inbox for something this serious.
Why the subject line is a warning sign
“ATTENTION 1!!!” is not how a global financial organization communicates. It is how scammers try to grab you fast.
Urgency lowers your guard. When you feel pressure, you are more likely to respond without verifying anything.
The greeting reveals a mass email
The message opens with “Attention: Sir/Madam.” If your name were truly selected for a multimillion-dollar payment, the sender would use it.
Generic greetings often mean the email was blasted out to thousands of people.
How the story tries to hook you
The email mentions debts tied to contracts, inheritance, lottery and loans. That wide net is intentional.
It increases the odds that something in the message feels familiar. Once that happens, the scam starts to feel personal.
The $4.5 million promise is the bait
The promise of $4.5 million is not random. Large numbers create excitement. They also make you more willing to overlook obvious problems.
Real financial grants do not appear out of nowhere like this.
YOUR EMAIL DIDN’T EXPIRE; IT’S JUST ANOTHER SNEAKY SCAM
Scam emails may use real organization names, official titles and urgent language to pressure people into responding quickly. (Pekic/Getty Images)
Why scammers use real names
The email mentions IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. That sounds official, which is the point.
Scammers often include real names or titles to make fake messages feel credible. It is a shortcut to trust.
The writing and grammar feel off
Phrases like “Kindly reply me directly” and awkward sentence structure stand out. One odd sentence might not mean much. However, repeated issues like this point to a lack of professional communication.
Major institutions have strict standards for how they write.
The most dangerous request in this email
This email requests:
- Full name
- Address and location
- Phone number
- Age and occupation
- A copy of your passport or driver’s license
That is everything needed for identity theft. Once someone has those details, they can open accounts, target you with more scams or impersonate you.
The payment method adds false legitimacy
The email promises a bank-to-bank wire transfer. That detail adds a layer of realism. It also sets up the next step. Many scams later ask for “fees” to release the funds.
You send money, and the payment never arrives.
Even the spam excuse is part of the scam
At the end, the email tries to explain away the biggest red flag: “If you have received this message in your SPAM/BULK folder, it is simply because your ISP has introduced restrictions. We urge that you treat it as a matter of urgency.” That is not a reassurance. It is a warning sign.
Scammers know their messages look suspicious, so they try to explain it away before you question it.
THE ONE THING SCAMMERS CHECK BEFORE TARGETING YOU ONLINE
Users should delete suspicious grant emails, avoid links and verify claims directly through official organization websites. (Photographer: Wei Leng Tay/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
How to stay safe from scam emails
Scams like this follow a pattern, and once you know what to look for, you can shut them down quickly before any damage is done.
1) Ignore and delete the message
Do not reply or engage in any way. Even a quick response tells scammers your email is active, which can lead to more targeted attacks. The safest move is to delete it and move on.
2) Do not click links or download attachments
Scam emails often hide malicious links or infected files. One click can take you to a fake login page or install malware on your device. If you were not expecting the message, do not interact with anything inside it.
3) Use strong antivirus software
Strong antivirus software adds another layer of protection. It can flag suspicious emails, block dangerous websites and stop malicious downloads before they cause harm. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com
4) Never send personal documents
No legitimate organization will ask for your passport, driver’s license or other sensitive documents through an unsolicited email. Sending that information can open the door to identity theft and financial fraud.
5) Look closely at the sender
Do not rely on the display name alone. Check the full email address carefully for misspellings, random numbers or free domains like Gmail. Small details often reveal a fake.
6) Go directly to official sources
If the message seems important, verify it on your own. Type the organization’s website into your browser or use a trusted contact method. Do not use the links or contact details provided in the email.
7) Remove your personal data from the internet
Scammers often rely on publicly available information to make their messages feel convincing. Data removal services can reduce what is out there, making it harder for criminals to target you in the first place. Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com
8) Turn on two-factor authentication
Add an extra layer of security to your accounts. With 2FA enabled, a stolen password alone is not enough for someone to get in. This simple step can stop many attacks before they start.
9) Monitor your financial accounts and credit
Check your bank statements and credit reports regularly. Look for unfamiliar charges, new accounts or changes you did not make. Catching fraud early can limit the damage.
10) Consider placing a credit freeze
If you think your personal information was exposed, a credit freeze can help protect you. It prevents new credit accounts from being opened in your name without your approval.
11) Add identity theft protection
Because this scam asks for your name, address, phone number, age, occupation and a copy of your passport or driver’s license, identity theft protection can help you spot trouble faster. A good service can monitor your credit files, alert you to new activity and help you recover if someone uses your information to open accounts or commit fraud in your name. See my tips and best picks on Best Identity Theft Protection at Cyberguy.com
12) Report the scam
Mark the email as phishing in your inbox. This helps your email provider block similar messages and protects other people from falling into the same trap.
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Kurt’s key takeaways
This email tries hard to look official. It uses a real organization, a real name and a convincing story. Still, the cracks show up quickly once you slow down. A Gmail reply address, a massive payout, a vague greeting and a request for identity documents all point in the same direction. Scams like this rely on one thing: getting you to act before you think. Take a second look, and the whole thing falls apart.
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If a message promises millions and asks for your personal information, would you pause long enough to question it, or would the urgency pull you in? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com
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Technology
Blue Origin explosion is a major setback for NASA’s Moon plans and Amazon’s Starlink competitor
While Blue Origin investigates the root cause behind last night’s spectacular explosion of its New Glenn rocket, it’s already clear that this will be a major setback for NASA’s Moon base plans and Amazon’s fledgling Leo space internet constellation.
The incident occurred at about 9pm at Blue Origin’s Florida launch site during a hot-fire test, where seven engines in the booster stage are lit while keeping the 322-foot-tall rocket fixed to the launchpad. The explosion and ensuing fireball severely damaged the only launchpad Blue Origin has for its New Glenn rocket.
“It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it,” wrote Blue Origin boss Jeff Bezos on X. “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”
According to sources speaking to Ars Technica, the transporter-erector and one of the lightning towers at LC-36A may not be salvageable. “New Glenn almost certainly will not launch again in 2026, and frankly a launch during the first half of 2027 would be heroic given the launch site concerns,” writes Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica.
Such a delay would affect NASA’s Moon base plans. NASA announced on Tuesday that New Glenn would deliver a robotic lunar lander as soon as fall 2026. In 2027, Blue Origin is also scheduled to participate in the upcoming Artemis III mission, which will see astronauts docking their Orion capsule with lunar landers developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman on X. “We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets.”
The New Glenn rocket that exploded Thursday night was being prepped to carry 48 Amazon Leo satellites — the largest batch ever slated for a single launch — into low-Earth orbit on an upcoming mission. The satellites were not onboard.
To date Amazon has launched just over 300 of the 1,618 Leo satellites the FCC requires by July 30, 2026. Amazon has applied for an extension to keep its license.
Amazon had been counting on New Glenn’s massive payload capacity and reusable boosters to accelerate a launch schedule that is already behind. Without its primary workhorse, Amazon will be forced to rely more heavily on secondary providers like United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Arianespace — and its chief rival, SpaceX.
“Sorry to see this,” wrote fellow billionaire spaceman Elon Musk on X. “I hope you recover quickly.”
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You may stop at 7-Eleven for coffee, gas, snacks or a quick drink. What you probably do not expect is to see the company’s name tied to a data breach involving personal information.
That is what happened after breach notification service Have I Been Pwned added 7-Eleven to its database. The service says the breach exposed about 185,000 unique email addresses. The exposed data also included names, dates of birth, phone numbers and physical addresses.
The company later said the breach involved certain 7-Eleven systems used to store franchisee documents. That detail is important because the exposed data appears tied to franchise-related records, rather than ordinary store purchases. Still, if your information was part of the leak, the risk can feel very personal.
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CONDUENT DATA BREACH HITS MILLIONS ACROSS MULTIPLE STATES
A 7-Eleven data breach exposed personal information tied to franchise-related records, including names, addresses and phone numbers. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
7-Eleven data breach: What happened?
According to Have I Been Pwned, 7-Eleven was targeted in April 2026 by a “pay or leak” extortion campaign linked to ShinyHunters. The data was later published that same month.
Hackers claimed they had stolen data and threatened to release it unless they were paid.
7-Eleven’s chief information security officer, Jim Kastle, said an unauthorized third party accessed an internal server that contained franchisee documents. The company said the incident involved certain systems used to store those records.
That makes this breach different from a typical customer checkout breach. Based on the company’s notification language, the affected records appear connected to franchise applications or franchisee documents.
10 SIGNS YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS BEING SOLD ONLINE
What data was exposed in the 7-Eleven breach?
Have I Been Pwned says the breach exposed 185,000 unique email addresses. The exposed information also included:
- Names
- Dates of birth
- Physical addresses
- Phone numbers
- Email addresses
Some breach filings also pointed to more sensitive details in certain records. Those details included Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers. That extra information raises the stakes. Names and addresses can fuel phishing. Dates of birth can help scammers sound convincing. Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers can create a higher risk of identity theft.
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Why the 7-Eleven breach could still matter to you
You may wonder, “I only buy coffee there. Should I care?” For most everyday 7-Eleven shoppers, this breach may not involve store purchase history. However, anyone who applied to become a franchisee, handled franchise documents or shared personal information through that process should pay close attention.
Even when a breach affects a limited group, the exposed data can still spread. Once hackers publish personal records, scammers can reuse them in many ways.
Fake emails could mention 7-Eleven by name. Phone calls may include your name, number or address to sound legitimate. Scammers could also send messages that pressure you to “verify” your identity after the breach. That is where the real damage often begins.
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How scammers may use leaked 7-Eleven data
Hackers do not need every detail about you to cause trouble. A few personal facts can make a scam feel believable.
For example, a scammer might send an email that claims to be from 7-Eleven, an identity theft protection company or a breach response team. The message may say you need to click a link to activate identity protection. It may also ask you to confirm your Social Security number, upload your driver’s license or enter banking details.
That kind of message can feel urgent. Scammers count on that reaction.
They know people act quickly when they feel scared. They may use phrases like “final notice,” “account locked,” or “breach claim pending” to push you into clicking before thinking.
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What 7-Eleven says about the data breach
7-Eleven reportedly notified affected individuals and arranged identity theft protection for up to 24 months.
If you receive a notice, read it carefully. Use the official instructions in the letter. Avoid clicking links in random emails or text messages that claim to offer breach help.
Instead, type the official website address into your browser yourself. You can also contact 7-Eleven through a verified channel.
We reached out to 7-Eleven for comment, but did not hear back before our deadline.
CHECK IF YOUR PASSWORDS WERE STOLEN IN HUGE LEAK
Cybersecurity researchers say hackers linked to ShinyHunters published data from a 7-Eleven breach affecting about 185,000 email addresses. (Deb Cohn-Orbach/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Ways to stay safe after the 7-Eleven data breach
A breach can feel out of your hands. However, you still have several smart moves available.
1) Check whether your email was exposed
Go to Have I Been Pwned at haveibeenpwned.com and search your email address. The service lets you see whether your email appears in known breach databases, including the 7-Eleven listing. If your email appears, do not panic. Treat it as a signal to tighten your accounts and watch for targeted scams. When done, come back here for Step 2.
2) Change your passwords immediately
Start with your most important accounts, such as email, medical and banking. Use strong, unique passwords with letters, numbers and symbols. Avoid predictable choices like names or birthdays. Never reuse passwords. One stolen password can unlock multiple accounts. A password manager makes this simple. It stores complex passwords securely and helps you create new ones. Many managers also scan for breaches to see if your current passwords have been exposed. Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2026 at Cyberguy.com.
3) Watch for fake breach emails
Be careful with emails, texts or calls that mention 7-Eleven. Scammers may use the breach as bait. Do not click links from unexpected messages. Instead, go directly to the company’s official website. Also, avoid opening attachments unless you fully trust the sender. The best way to protect yourself from malicious links is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safer. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com
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4) Turn on two-factor authentication
5) Place a fraud alert or credit freeze
If your Social Security number or driver’s license number was exposed, consider a credit freeze with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. A credit freeze makes it harder for criminals to open new accounts in your name. You can lift it when you need to apply for credit. A fraud alert can also warn lenders to take extra steps before approving new credit.
6) Remove your personal information from data broker sites
Leaked information can become even more dangerous when scammers combine it with details already floating around online. Data brokers may list your home address, phone number, relatives, age and other personal details.
You can remove your information manually from individual data broker sites, though that process takes time. A data removal service can help automate opt-out requests and continue monitoring for your information when it reappears. Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.
7) Consider identity theft protection
If your Social Security number or driver’s license number was exposed, identity theft protection may be worth considering. These services can monitor your credit, alert you to suspicious activity and help with recovery if someone tries to open accounts in your name. If you receive an official breach notice from 7-Eleven, review any identity protection offer carefully. Go through the official letter or verified company website rather than clicking links in random emails or texts. See my tips and best picks on Best Identity Theft Protection at Cyberguy.com.
8) Monitor your mail and financial accounts
Watch for unfamiliar bills, credit cards, loans or government notices. Also, review your bank and credit card statements. If you see something suspicious, report it right away. The sooner you act, the easier it can be to limit damage.
INSIDE A SCAMMER’S DAY AND HOW THEY TARGET YOU
7-Eleven says an unauthorized third party accessed systems used to store franchisee documents during an April 2026 cyberattack. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
9) Be careful with phone calls
If someone calls and claims to help with the breach, slow down. Do not give out your Social Security number, driver’s license number or banking details over the phone. Hang up and call the company back using a verified number.
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Data breaches have become so common that it is tempting to shrug them off. That can be risky. Personal details such as your name, address, date of birth and phone number can give scammers a running start. The 7-Eleven data breach may not affect every customer who has ever bought a Slurpee or filled up at one of its stores. However, for the people whose information was exposed, it can create a long tail of fraud risk. The best move now is simple. Verify before you click, strengthen your accounts and assume scammers may try to use this breach as a conversation starter.
Should companies face tougher penalties when personal data tied to job, franchise or business applications ends up in hackers’ hands? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
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