3 min readApr 8, 2026 09:56 PM ISTWhile he was surfing the internet a few weeks ago, he came across a video of PM Modi and Finance Minister Sitharaman. (File Photo)Using deepfake videos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, an Army veteran from Pune, who is in his 80s, was defrauded of Rs 1 crore in an online investment scam where he was promised high returns on forex trading.A first information report was registered by the retired officer of the Indian Army who lives in Kondhwa area. While he was surfing the internet a few weeks ago, he came across a video of PM Modi and Finance Minister Sitharaman. A probe suggested it was a deepfake video that endorsed a malicious investment platform. The video promised that for a monthly investment of Rs 22,000, the platform could give monthly returns of Rs one lakh.The deepfake video also carried a link. After the complainant clicked it, he was directed to a web page where he was asked to fill up a form with his personal details and financial information. Subsequently he was given a link to the malicious phone based app and was asked to log into it.After logging into the application, he started receiving calls from fraudsters posing as executives from a forex trading platform. Initially he was asked to pay Rs 22,000 and the malicious application displayed a profit of Rs 1 lakh. Believing the application to be legitimate, the complainant started sending larger amounts and even larger ‘profits’ started getting displayed in the fake application.In a span of a month, the complainant had sent a total of Rs 1.01 crore and corresponding profits shown were Rs 4.54 crore. When the complainant sought to withdraw his earnings, he was asked to pay more money as tax and processing charges. It was at this point he realised he had been cheated and approached the police.Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Cyber investigators have come across dozens of examples in which deepfake videos of industry leaders, politicians and stock market experts are being used to manipulate unsuspecting individuals into investing in particular fraudulent platforms.In cases reported in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, deepfake videos of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy and Infosys Foundation’s Sudha Murthy, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance and late Ratan Tata, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and share trading experts like Rachana Ranade have been used.Story continues below this adThese videos falsely promoted fraudulent stock trading tools, and were used by cybercriminals to swindle common citizens looking to earn profits out of the stock market.Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:fraudNirmala Sitharama