A 72-year-old man was duped of Rs 40,000 in a deep fake scam in Kerala’s Kozhikode on Sunday, July 9. The Cyber Crime Police, Kozhikode City, told TNM that a First Information Report has been registered as per a complaint filed by PS Radhakrishnan, a Kozhikode native who retired from Coal India Limited (CIL) 12 years ago. A case has been filed under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66 C and D (identity theft and cheating by impersonation) of the Information Technology Act.
Radhakrishnan recently received WhatsApp texts from someone he thought was his former colleague, Venukumar. After exchanging pleasantries, this ‘friend’ called Radhakrishnan on WhatsApp, and said that he is in urgent need of money as his mother-in-law was hospitalised. When Radhakrishnan requested a video call to confirm the identity of the speaker, the scammer called him via WhatsApp video call. “The call lasted only 30 seconds, and only a close-up of the face could be seen. It was so perfect that I didn’t suspect anything,” he said.
But what Radhakrishnan did not realise was that it wasn’t Venukumar who called him, but that a deep fake video was shown to him. Deep fake is a form of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology that uses deep machine learning to design realistic but duplicate or fake images and videos.
The scammer then asked him to deposit Rs 40,000 via UPI to the account of a person who he said was a bystander at the hospital. After the amount was transferred, the scammer requested money a second time, making Radhakrishnan suspicious of the exchange. “I called my former colleague from the number I had of his. He told me he was completely unaware of any such thing. I quickly alerted the police about the scam then,” he said.
Even in the voice call, he found no particular reason to suspect a scam, Radhakrishnan said. “My medium of communication with my colleague was English, and the scammer also spoke to me in English. He also mentioned the names of our other colleagues,” he said, adding that the scammer may have accessed such personal details from Facebook and other online sources. “I have not personally disclosed such details to anyone,” he said.
The amount was traced to a bank account in Maharashtra. The account to which the money was transferred has been frozen, and the recovery process is underway. Radhakrishnan said that he has told the Kozhikode cybercrime police he would like to pursue the case further and bring the scammer to book.
“With further advancements in technology, such scams will continue to take place. The only precaution one can take is to verify the identity of the caller before transferring money,” he said.