Fraud Alert: Fake Faces, Real Problems
India is experiencing a sharp rise in deepfake-based scams—AI-generated photos, voice calls and videos that look convincingly real but are used by fraudsters to deceive victims into sending money, sharing sensitive data, or granting access to accounts. Scammers exploit deepfakes to impersonate family members, executives, officials and romantic partners, turning “fake faces” into serious problems for ordinary people. Reported cases include deepfake video calls from fake bosses asking for urgent transfers and voice impersonations of relatives seeking ransom money. Criminals can clone voices from a few seconds of online audio and create detailed synthetic identities at low cost, enabling fraud such as job scams, fake IDs, and unauthorized fund transfers. The article warns that deepfakes are now a major cyber threat, requiring users to look for visual or audio anomalies, verify unusual requests through separate channels, and adopt strong security measures like multi-factor authentication to avoid falling for sophisticated identity fraud. Awareness and digital vigilance are key to staying safe as deepfake scams continue to grow.
