A 54-year-old woman in Bengaluru has become the latest high-profile victim of sophisticated AI-driven financial fraud, losing over ₹33 lakh (approximately USD $40,000) after falling for a deepfake video of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The cybercriminals used the digitally manipulated video, which was circulated on Facebook, to promote a highly lucrative but entirely fraudulent stock trading and investment platform. Believing the video endorsement by the high-profile minister to be genuine, the woman from CV Raman Nagar registered on the site, unwittingly opening the door to the scamsters.
The fraud was carried out in multiple stages, demonstrating the organized nature of the cybercrime operation. After registering and sharing her Know Your Customer (KYC) and banking details, the woman was added to a fraudulent WhatsApp group and instructed to make an initial transfer of ₹21,000 to begin trading. Following a waiting period of approximately three months, the fraudsters contacted her, falsely claiming that her account had generated a substantial profit of $88,000.
However, the cybercriminals informed the victim that she could not withdraw the substantial "profit" until she paid a series of mandatory fees and taxes. To enhance the scam’s legitimacy, the fraudsters went so far as to create replica email IDs that mimicked those of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the fake trading firm, requesting payments for charges such as securities transaction tax, Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) tax, and other fabricated levies.
Between October and December, the woman made nine separate transactions totaling ₹33,25,413 across multiple bank accounts, convinced that she was paying the necessary charges to access her huge supposed profit. It was only after making all these transfers and still failing to withdraw any money that she realized the entire platform and its activities were fraudulent. The victim has since filed a complaint with the East Cyber Crime police station, leading to a case being registered under the Information Technology Act and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for cheating. This incident serves as a critical warning against the rising tide of deepfake scams using prominent figures to lure unsuspecting individuals into financial traps.
