Ahmedabad: Deepfake-led Aadhaar fraud uncovered
A cyber fraud case in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad has come to light after an export-import businessman noticed that OTP messages from his bank had stopped arriving for the past two days. Suspecting foul play, he filed a police complaint.
Cyber Crime police said their investigation revealed that the accused had collected the businessman’s Aadhaar details and photographs. Using artificial intelligence, they allegedly created a realistic “deepfake” video of him.
According to police, the video was displayed at an e-seva centre on an Aadhaar authentication device, making the system believe the person was physically present. This enabled the gang to change the mobile number linked to the victim’s Aadhaar without requiring OTP, and replace it with their own number.
After linking their number, the accused allegedly opened an account with Jio Payments Bank and obtained a loan of ₹25,000. Police added that they also attempted to access the businessman’s DigiLocker to retrieve various documents.
The accused named by police are Kanubhai Parmar, Ashish Vanand, Mohammed Kaif Patel and Deep Gupta, with one of them running an e-seva centre.
