- Hundreds of thousands of phishing emails are on the theme of anime
- Victims are mainly genres
- The anime has never been so popular
Pirates are increasingly disguising malware such as animated claims, taking advantage of the growing popularity of the Japanese animation format.
This is according to cybersecurity researchers Kaspersky, who analyzed phishing attacks between T2 2024 and T1 2025, and found more than 250,000 on the theme of anime.
The anime is an animated style of entertainment, made for the first time in Japan. It extends to television series, films and other adjacent formats. Kaspersky claims that the format has never been so popular as today, among the Gen Z’ers (those born almost in the early 2000s).
Exclusive access to … malware
Apparently, two thirds of the generation (65%) regularly look at anime, which has never been the case before. Not only that, but they “also connect to the characters,” said the researcher, and become “emotionally invested” in the shows.
This makes them quite sensitive to phishing on the theme of anime. Naruto Seems to be the number one choice among threat actors, with around 114,000 attempts to attack. Demon tube was second with 44,000, followed by Titan attack,, One pieceAnd Jujutsu Kaisen.
Criminals are generally promising “exclusive episodes”, “disclosed scenes” or “premium access”, in order to bring victims to click on links, download malware or to share sensitive information.
Although anime is certainly working well, it is not the only thing that hackers use to target generation Z. Shrek,, Foreign things,, Dusk,, Upside downAnd Deadpool and Wolverineare all popular choices, representing more than 43,000 attempts to attack. There was also a notable peak at the beginning of 2025, coinciding with the latest version of the Shrek trailer.
As usual, Kaspersky warns everyone that things that seem too beautiful to be true – usually end up being just that. Those interested in watching the latest programs should register for well -established and renowned streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu or Disney +, and not to use hacked or otherwise dubious sources.
