AI voice clone used in fraud attempt against Bharti Enterprises executive
A scammer used AI voice cloning to impersonate billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal and attempted to trick one of his senior executives in Dubai into authorizing a large financial transfer. The executive recognized the scam before any money was lost. Mittal publicly disclosed the incident as a warning about AI misuse.
What happened
A scammer used artificial intelligence to clone the voice of Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, and called one of his senior finance executives in Dubai who handles the company's Africa headquarters.
The caller, using Mittal's cloned voice, directed the executive to make a large money transfer. The executive recognized the suspicious nature of the request, realizing that Mittal would not make such a request over the phone, and immediately reported the call instead of complying.
Reported impact
Mittal stated that he was "quite stunned" after hearing the recording of his cloned voice, noting how perfectly it was articulated and that it sounded exactly like how he would speak.
No financial loss occurred as the executive prevented the fraud by not authorizing the transfer.
Index analysis
The incident highlights the sophistication of AI-powered fraud tools capable of convincing voice replication. A Kaspersky Business Digitisation survey found that while 75 per cent of UAE employees believed they could identify a deepfake, only 37 per cent were successful in distinguishing real and AI-generated images.
Mittal acknowledged that the scam could have succeeded if the executive had not been alert and cautious, noting that "anyone who would not have been vigilant may have done something about it."
Governance controls
The UAE Cyber Security Council has warned about the dangers of deepfake content and launched an awareness campaign cautioning that sharing deepfake content could lead to fraud or legal consequences, urging the public to verify the authenticity of digital content before distributing it.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.