Google has removed dozens of Chrome extensions that masqueraded as AI assistants while siphoning users’ data, after researchers at LayerX found 30 near-identical add-ons with more than 260,000 downloads. The copycat tools, branded with names like “Gemini AI Sidebar” and “ChatGPT Translate,” allegedly scraped emails, browser content and even API keys that users routinely paste into developer tools. The takedown underscores how criminals are exploiting the AI boom to refine social engineering and data exfiltration, even as companies ramp up their own AI defenses. Recent survey data show a widening gap between corporate confidence in anti-fraud controls and on-the-ground reality: nearly 59% report struggles with bot-driven fraud, and 60.6% of financial firms say bot traffic has climbed over the past year.
Related article:
