Retired engineer from Andheri loses ₹92 lakh after falling for crypto investment scam using a fake AI video of Finance Minister | Representational Image
Mumbai, Feb 20: Cyber fraudsters are using innovative ways to trap unsuspecting victims. The scammers floated a fake AI-generated video of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promoting a cryptocurrency investment. A 77-year-old retired engineer fell victim to the fraud and ended up losing around Rs 92 lakh.
According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Andheri (E). In August last year, the complainant came across a video advertisement (AI-generated) on YouTube wherein Sitharaman was seen promoting a cryptocurrency investment.
The complainant clicked on a link in the said advertisement, which directed him to a web page. He filled in his name, mobile number and email ID on the page and registered himself.
After some time, the complainant received a phone call from a woman who claimed to be calling from an investment company. She told the complainant that her company provides huge returns on investment in crypto trading.
Since the complainant had seen Sitharaman in the video, he assumed that it was genuine and decided to go ahead with the investment. The scammers, who claimed to be financial experts, asked the complainant to register on a bogus website and helped him create a crypto wallet, police said.
From August till January 16, he transferred around Rs 92 lakh to different beneficiary bank accounts on the instructions of the scammers and was shown that his earnings had reached Rs 3.39 crore.
However, when the complainant tried to withdraw his earnings, his requests were repeatedly denied. He then confronted the scammers, who asked him to pay more money to release his earnings.
Case registered under BNS and IT Act
Having realised that he had been duped, the victim lodged a complaint on the cybercrime helpline, following which a case was registered by the police under Sections 61 (criminal conspiracy), 318 (cheating), 319 (cheating by personation), 336 (forgery), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.) and 340 (forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and Sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act in the matter.
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Government warns against fake AI videos
The government had recently issued a clarification on such fake videos and stated, “A sponsored ad is circulating a digitally altered, AI-generated video featuring the Union Finance Minister. Neither the Finance Minister nor the Government of India has endorsed any such investment scheme or platform. Be wary of ‘too-good-to-be-true’ returns, verify claims through official government or financial institution websites, avoid clicking on suspicious or unknown links and never share personal or banking details on unverified platforms.”
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