Man Loses Rs. 40000 in AI-Generated Video Call Scam on WhatsApp – Learn How to Spot Deep Fakes

In Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, a new type of online scam has emerged, demonstrating a unique approach. A man fell victim to this scam, losing Rs. 40000, as he was deceived through an AI-powered video call. The unsuspecting victim received a video call from an unknown number, where the caller cleverly posed as a former colleague. The reason behind the success of this scam was the utilization of Artificial Intelligence tools, enabling the cybercriminals to convincingly impersonate someone familiar to the victim. The fraudulent activity took place via WhatsApp video calling.

During the investigation, the Kerala cyber wing traced the money trail and contacted a particular bank to freeze the amount after receiving information about the scam on Friday.

The victim, identified as Radhakrishnan, received a WhatsApp video call that sounded like his former colleague in Andhra Pradesh. According to Cyber Wing SP Hari Sankar, “the fraudsters used an AI-based video interface to pose as a friend and seek money.” Radhakrishnan saw his former colleague on a video call.

However, he became suspicious when they called him again and asked for more money. Finally, to confirm and clear his doubts, Radhakrishnan actually called his colleagues on his real number to confirm and found out that he had been scammed.

How is an AI-based video interface used for impersonation?

The term is popularly known as audio or video “deep fake technology”. Using artificial intelligence-based tools, the scammer creates synthetic sound, video, images and virtual persons. These crimes used to impersonate celebrities and create fake news and statements, but now these online crooks have found a new way to scam ordinary people out of their money.

The risk of AI-based impersonation has increased in recent years, and now cybercriminals have found new ways to trick the general public. It is also possible to fool traditional recognition systems by training machine learning algorithms to imitate human characteristics such as voice, face and handwriting.

Many artificial intelligence tools are now being used to impersonate people for malicious purposes, such as scamming, spreading false information, and stealing identities.

How to identify the occurrence risk based on artificial intelligence?

Kerala Cyber Wing told the public about fraudsters who use AI-based tools that can impersonate any person with face and voice. To recognize such hoaxes, you can actually see the blurred background and the movements of the jaw, eyes and lips, the basic movements of the face. This is usually not normal for any living person.

They also urged the public to contact the Kerala Cyber Help Line number 1930 in case of such calls.