Vasai Woman Duped of Rs 12 Lakh by Deepfake Video of TN Chief Minister Vijay

A 66-year-old woman from Vasai was allegedly duped of Rs 12 lakh after cyber fraudsters used an AI-generated deepfake video of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay to lure her with false promises of financial assistance, police said. A case has been registered in connection with the fraudulent scheme at the Waliv police station.

According to the police, the incident began on July 27 when the victim came across an Instagram reel. The video purportedly featured Vijay claiming that he provides financial assistance to the poor and needy, and it asked those who required help to get in touch through a contact number displayed in the video.

The woman called the phone number provided in the reel and was subsequently directed to communicate via a second phone number. When she contacted the second number and requested financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh, the fraudsters asked her to pay an initial amount of Rs 5,000 as a processing fee.

After establishing communication and gaining the victim's trust, the cyber criminals escalated their demands. They informed her that she was set to receive a substantially larger sum of Rs 77 lakh from abroad, but claimed she would first need to pay required taxes and other related processing charges before the funds could be released.

To meet the continuous financial demands of the fraudsters, the woman took out a loan from a private credit society, pledged her jewellery, and also withdrew money from her daughter's bank account. Over a 10-day period, she transferred a total of Rs 12 lakh to various bank accounts specified by the callers.

After completing the transfers and receiving no financial aid, the victim realised she had been deceived. The matter was subsequently reported to law enforcement, and the Waliv police initiated an investigation into the cyber fraud.