Two Bengaluru residents were recently defrauded of Rs 83 lakh after falling for deepfake videos of Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy and Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, used in online stock trading scams.
In both cases, the complainants didn’t check the authenticity of the alleged videos and ended up clicking some suspicious links which led them to fake websites created by fraudsters to cheat people and make money on promises of giving them higher returns, they said on Monday.
According to a complaint to south CEN police, Banashankari resident Veena KG, 57, lost Rs 67.1 lakh over two schemes. She initially invested Rs 1.4 lakh in a platform advertised via a Facebook deep fake of Murthy, receiving a small profit to gain her trust.
After investing more, she saw no returns and was then lured by another Instagram ad promising earnings through work-from-home tasks. Over time, she paid Rs 57.2 lakh to fraudsters, only receiving Rs 55,997 back. Realising the scam, she reported it to the police.
Also, read: Karnataka online trading frauds: Losses skyrocket from Rs 23 crore in 2022 to Rs 903 crore by mid-2024
In a similar case, retired Anekal resident Asok Kumar TS lost Rs 19 lakh after responding to Facebook posts featuring deepfake videos of Murthy and Ambani. Following an initial contact, he transferred money, but the scammers withheld both his principal and promised returns.
Police have warned the public to be wary of deepfakes of prominent figures on social media, urging caution and quick reporting in case of fraud.
“It could also be so that the fraudsters must have used videos of these personalities which were meant for their general body meetings or stakeholders and misused the same to cheat gullible people. Trusting the alleged videos, they landed in trouble by clicking on such fake websites created by fraudsters to trap gullible people,” the officer said.
Two separate cases have been registered at CEN (Cyber Economic and Narcotics) South police station and an investigation is underway to track the culprits involved in the scam, police said.
(with inputs from PTI)
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