I’ve used trending AI photo apps before – to see what I’d look like at 90, if I switched genders, if I was a fairy princess – and it was always lighthearted fun. But nothing had prepared me for seeing my face on an AI-generated naked body in a scam email.

It was a Sunday afternoon and I was making myself a cup of tea. Like many work-obsessed millennials circling burnout, I opened my emails while waiting for the kettle to boil. I saw a message from an unfamiliar email address with a subject line that read: Becca – Photoshoot. I’m a tech journalist, and I’d recently filmed some content for a brand, so I opened it, assuming it was related to that.

The first thing I saw was a photo of myself that I recognised from a few years ago. It’s one that’s been used by online publications I’ve written for, as well as on my literary agent’s website. But something was off.

I scrolled further and saw that it looked like I was wearing either a tiny vest top or naked. This struck me as bizarre: it’s a photo I know well and I was aware that I was wearing a long-sleeved black top when it was taken. So why was I now seeing bare shoulders?