A Disturbing Trend: Viral Deepfakes Promoting Fake Investment Schemes

NDTV

2 days ago

New Delhi:
A deepfake video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi promoting a fake investment scheme has gone viral on Facebook, posing digital risks to lakhs of potential victims. This is not a remote incident. Several such deepfake videos are being promoted on different social media platforms, banking on the credibility of famous personalities like ministers and industrialists, to propagate fraudulent schemes.
Such campaigns highlight a troubling trend in which scams are no longer being overt but hiding behind the disguise of legitimacy. Athenian Tech, a cybersecurity firm that monitors digital risk, said that such scams are using deepfake technology and psychological tactics to defraud citizens under the pretext of an investment scheme endorsed by the government.
"At the core of the operation lies a Facebook spearphishing campaign, featuring a fabricated video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi purportedly endorsing an AI-powered trading platform. The campaign manipulates emotional and aspirational cues by falsely associating respected figures such as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Narayana Murthy, and Sudha Murty as co-creators," reads its 'Threat Intelligence Report'.
Testimonials promising extraordinary returns like a daily payout are run alongside to make such fabricated endorsements even more convincing to the potential victims.
The broader threat impact of such deepfake campaigns is multifaceted, the report said, pointing to one such deepfake promising a return of Rs 9 lakh in seven days after an initial investment of Rs 21,000. Besides losses, unauthorised financial activity and identity theft are among the secondary risks, it noted.
"More critically, the misuse of AI-generated deepfakes featuring Indian leaders poses a national security challenge by eroding public confidence and enabling potential information warfare," said Athenian Tech.
The report said that such campaigns rely on paid promotions through Meta Ads. They redirect users to fraudulent domains commonly linked to scam networks. "These fraudulent sites harvest personally identifiable information via imitation forms, followed by coordinated outreach from scam call centers," the report said.
It is easy to spot Facebook accounts propagating such scams. Generic account names, artificial engagement, and cross-platform video re-sharing are some signs that separate these accounts from genuine ones. Social media users should not click on unknown links and verify endorsements through official channels, the report added, urging them to report such Facebook posts through its internal abuse mechanism.