Bhopal: 12 Lose Money To Face Swap Video Call Frauds

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Imagine getting a video call from your family member, close relative or acquaintance who demand money from you, claiming to be in an emergency situation. You transfer the amount on the UPI number given by them and later realise that the person who made the video call to you was a fraudster who morphed your kin’s face in the video call to cheat you.

This is the latest AI-laced modus operandi of cyber criminals through which they duped 12 local residents in last one month. The latest case was reported from Jawahar Chowk where a woman working at a private firm received a video call from an unknown number a week back.

As she responded to the video call, she could see her husband present on the other side of the call. Her husband told her that he needed Rs 50,000 immediately for his friend’s surgery. The woman immediately transferred the amount. When she contacted her husband on his personal phone number, she learnt that her husband was at his office and not at the hospital.

The woman then approached cyber crime cell and lodged a complaint. Similar incident took place in Arera Colony where a friend of Deepam Khargange, a bank employee, demanded Rs 2 lakh from him citing an emergency situation. Khargange too lost the amount in similar way.

Cyber crime officials told Free Press that the growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software opened new pathways for cyber crooks to defraud people.

Double check: DCP

Deputy police commissioner Shrutkirti Somwanshi said person should check twice or thrice if they receive a call from their acquaintance seeking money immediately. “They should call them up on their personal phone number to avoid being duped,” Somwanshi added.

Published on: Friday, September 29, 2023, 10:26 PM IST