A 57-year-old woman in Bengaluru lost Rs 3.75 crore to scammers who used an AI-generated deepfake video of spiritual leader Sadhguru to promote fake investment opportunities.
Between February 25 and April 23, a 57-year-old retired woman from CV Raman Nagar in Bengaluru was defrauded of Rs 3.75 crore through a sophisticated scam involving an AI-generated deepfake video of spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. The woman encountered what appeared to be a genuine Sadhguru video on social media promoting investment opportunities with a firm called Mirrox for an initial investment of $250. After clicking the link and providing her personal information, she was contacted by fraudsters using UK phone numbers who identified themselves as Waleed B and later Michael C. The scammers added her to a WhatsApp group with approximately 100 members and directed her to download the Mirrox stock trading app. Through Zoom tutorials and psychological manipulation tactics including fabricated profit screenshots from group members, the fraudsters convinced the woman to transfer money across multiple transactions. The fake platform displayed impressive returns on her investments, but when she attempted to withdraw profits, the scammers demanded additional fees for processing and taxes. When she refused these extra payments, all communication ceased. The woman filed a complaint at East CEN police station on Tuesday, nearly five months after the fraud concluded. Police noted that recovery would be challenging and are coordinating with banks to freeze fraudster accounts. In June, Sadhguru and his Isha Foundation had approached Delhi High Court regarding misuse of his identity through AI-generated deepfakes.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed