A Karnataka lawyer deepfake (May 2025)

A Karnataka lawyer was duped of ₹5.93 lakh after being lured by an AI-generated video of Donald Trump promoting a hotel investment scheme on YouTube. The 38-year-old advocate believed the video was real and joined a Telegram group linked in the video. He then invested his money, but when the returns never came and the group vanished, he realized he had been scammed. He had initially paid ₹1,500 to activate his account after submitting his bank details, and was promised a 3% daily return. Lured by early returns, he invested a total of ₹5,93,240 between January 25 and April 4. A case has been registered under the IT Act and Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Police have frozen ₹1.5 lakh in the recipient bank account.