Mumbai Police Bust AI-Generated Deepfake Investment Fraud Allegedly Backed by Hong Kong Company
Mumbai Cyber Police arrested four individuals from Bengaluru for running deepfake videos of Indian stock market experts in an investment fraud campaign allegedly backed by a Hong Kong company. The fraudulent videos were circulated between July 1 and July 18, 2024, before Meta removed them. Investigators found the scheme used at least 38 advertising accounts and involved payments of approximately ₹3 crore to an Indian marketing firm.
What happened
Mumbai Cyber Police exposed a sophisticated fraud network that used deepfake videos of prominent Indian stock market experts to deceive investors. The police arrested four individuals—Jijil Sebastian, Dipayan Tapan Banerjee, Daniel Arumugham, and Chandrashekhar Bhimsen Naik—who worked for Bengaluru-based advertising agency Valueleaf.
The accused created and promoted the fraudulent videos on behalf of a Hong Kong-based company named First Bridge, which paid approximately ₹3 crore to Valueleaf for executing the campaign. The fraudulent videos were circulated between July 1 and July 18, 2024, spreading false and misleading information about share trading before Meta removed them.
Reported impact
The case was reported to be the first in India where deepfake technology was used to commit investment fraud. The manipulated videos spread false information about share trading on social media, deceiving investors about stock market advice from impersonated experts.
Index analysis
When Meta flagged the content for spreading misinformation, the accused increased their advertising accounts from 18 to 38 and changed their registered domain location to Dubai to evade detection. The accused were fully aware the videos were fake and could cause financial harm, yet continued promoting them.
Governance controls
Mumbai West Region Cyber Police registered a case under Sections 418(4), 419(2), 420(2), and 465(2) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Sections 66(A) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act. All four accused were remanded to police custody till October 20, with officials investigating how many investors were defrauded through the scheme.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.