Two residents of Bengaluru fell victim to a scam involving deepfake videos of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and Reliance Chairperson Mukesh Ambani, resulting in a combined loss of nearly Rs 80 lakh, according to The Times of India. Separate cases have been filed at the Bengaluru South CEN police station, and investigations are currently underway.
How the Scam Operated
As reported, Veena, a resident of Banashankari, encountered a video featuring Narayana Murthy promoting a trading platform and promising substantial returns. Unaware that it was a deepfake, she clicked on the link and provided her personal information. Subsequently, an individual posing as an agent contacted her, urging her to invest money for high returns. She initially invested Rs 1.4 lakh using her credit card and earned Rs 8,000 in profit. However, after investing an additional Rs 6.7 lakh, she did not receive any returns.
Veena later saw another advertisement on Instagram offering a work-from-home opportunity where she could earn money by rating the ASOS platform. Encouraged by the prospect, she invested Rs 67 lakh into this scheme and was shown a profit of Rs 55,000 on the portal. However, when she attempted to withdraw her funds, she was informed that she needed to pay a hefty tax on her earnings, and afterward, her calls went unanswered.
In a similar incident, retired employee Ashok Kumar was also scammed. He came across a Facebook advertisement featuring a deepfake video of Mukesh Ambani promoting a trading platform with promises of high returns. Kumar transferred Rs 19 lakh to two separate accounts provided by the fraudsters but soon stopped receiving any communication from them and realized he had been deceived.
Last year, Narayana Murthy had warned the public about various trading platforms misusing his identity for promotional purposes, stating that he does not endorse any such ventures. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he expressed concern over fake news circulating on social media claiming he had endorsed or invested n automated trading applications such as BTC AI Evex and British Bitcoin Profit. He emphasized that these fraudulent claims often appeared on deceptive websites mimicking reputable news outlets and included fabricated interviews featuring deepfake images and videos.
