Deepfake Video of Indian Finance Minister Promoted Investment Scam
A deepfake video falsely showing India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman endorsing a fraudulent investment scheme circulated on social media. The video used AI technology to manipulate an original speech recording and add synthetic audio to create a convincing but false endorsement of an investment platform claiming unrealistic returns.
What happened
A video circulating on social media falsely claimed that India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman endorsed an investment platform promising high returns of up to ₹25 lakh per month on initial investments of ₹22,000.
The video was confirmed to be a deepfake created by digitally manipulating an original YouTube clip of Sitharaman delivering a speech on regulatory and investment reforms. AI-generated audio and scripted text were injected into the original video to fabricate the endorsement.
The manipulated video contained visual artifacts including mismatched lip-syncing and unusual visual transitions characteristic of deepfake technology.
Reported impact
The deepfake was promoted on social media to deceive the public into investing in a fraudulent scheme.
Index analysis
The incident highlights a trend of scammers using AI-generated videos to create misleading advertisements that appear legitimate to deceive potential victims.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.