Look out! Searching for these 'dangerous' celebrities could get you hacked

News
By Tom Pritchard
published

The internet can be dangerous, especially if you're looking for some of these famous people

American actress Anna Kendrick at an entertainment event.
(Image credit: John Lamparski / Getty Images) (Image credit: John Lamparski / Getty Images)

There are a lot of reasons to go searching for celebrities on the internet, particularly if they’re in movies or TV shows that you really want to watch but can’t find on Netflix. But the internet can be a dangerous place.

Popularity can lead to problems, and celebrities are often the perfect bait for criminals, scammers, and other nasty types to try and virtually mess you up. Fortunately, antivirus firm McAfee has compiled a list of the celebrities to avoid online, or at least be a lot more careful with.

Globally, it seems the most dangerous celebrity to search for is Anna Kendrick, star of Trolls World Tour and HBO Max’s Love Life. She’s joined by Sean Combs, Blake Lively, Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift, Jimmy Kimmel, Julia Roberts, Kate McKinnon, and Jason Derulo.

In other regions, things are a little bit different. In the U.K., McAfee claims Graham Norton, host of the popular self-titled television talk show, is the main culprit to look out for. Meanwhile, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo claims that title in India, and Kylie Jenner proves to be the riskiest Google search result in Germany.

Obviously, we don’t know how McAfee is measuring the relative risk of searching for all these famous types. It’s not like Googling "Graham Norton" or "Anna Kendrick" is going to leave you with a crippled device and a stolen identity. 

The point of these lists is for McAfee to try and emphasize the fact that clicking on random search results online can be risky and lead you to phishing scams, malware, spam and just general nastiness.

And it just so happens McAfee has a range of tools you can buy to keep your digital life safe. Funny coincidence, right?

But in all seriousness, a little bit of extra protection never hurt anyone. Especially if you have kids that spend a lot of time online, and might not know about how these malicious sites operate.

Tom Pritchard
Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.