Bengaluru Woman Duped Of ₹33 Lakh After Deepfake 'Nirmala Sitharaman' Promotes Trading App
A Bengaluru woman lost over ₹33 lakh after a deepfake video mimicking Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman misled her into joining a fake trading platform. Police have registered a case under IT Act.
In yet another reminder of how dangerous deepfake technology has become, a 54-year-old woman from Bengaluru lost more than ₹33 lakh after falling for a doctored video that appeared to show Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman endorsing an online trading platform. The sophisticated scam unfolded over two months and left the victim financially devastated.
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How The Deepfake Lured The Victim
The fraud began when the woman, a resident of CV Raman Nagar, came across a Facebook video featuring what looked like the Finance Minister praising a trading service. Believing the endorsement to be genuine, she signed up on the platform and submitted her banking and KYC information.
Within minutes of registering, she was added to a WhatsApp group where she was instructed to transfer ₹21,000 as an initial deposit “to start trading.” This was only the beginning.
Fake Advisers, Fake Emails, And Fake Profits
After joining the group, the victim started receiving phone calls from a woman introducing herself as “Varnika Reddy, senior finance adviser at Naka Solution Ltd.” The caller confidently claimed that the victim had already earned a profit of USD 88,000 and could withdraw the money, but only after paying multiple “mandatory charges.”
These included:
- Securities transaction tax
- A so-called “one-time tax”
- FEMA-related fees
- Atomic wallet charges
To make the scam more believable, the victim received emails that looked like official communication from the Reserve Bank of India and another private bank.
₹33 Lakh Transferred Across Multiple Accounts
Between October and December, the woman made nine separate transfers amounting to ₹33,25,413 to six different merchants across several banks. Each payment was made under the assumption that it was required to unlock her supposed trading profits.
Only when the withdrawals never came through did she realise she had been deceived.
Police Case Registered, But Scam Group Still Active
After discovering the fraud, the victim approached the police, who have now registered a case under:
- Information Technology Act, and
- BNS Section 318 (cheating)
Shockingly, even after the complaint, the WhatsApp group used in the scam reportedly remains active, according to a report.
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