Nirmala Sitharaman deepfake video — Nov 2026

A 76-year-old retired public sector employee from Borivali was defrauded of ₹2.82 crore after encountering a deepfake video featuring Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The video, which appeared on a social media platform in February 2026, falsely depicted the minister encouraging senior citizens to invest in gold, silver, stocks, and bonds for high returns.

What happened

After viewing the deepfake, the victim clicked an embedded link that connected her to individuals claiming to represent an international share trading platform based in Romania. These fraudsters directed her to a Telegram-based application to manage her investments. To establish credibility, the attackers displayed fabricated profits on a simulated trading dashboard and successfully remitted ₹1.27 lakh back to the victim's account.

Encouraged by these initial results and citing geopolitical tensions as a reason for further investment, the perpetrators convinced the woman to transfer ₹2.82 crore across 20 separate transactions between March 9 and September 29, 2026. The funds were sent to various third-party bank accounts provided by the fraudsters via Telegram. When the victim attempted to withdraw her principal and accumulated returns, the attackers refused, instead demanding additional capital for an upcoming IPO and suggesting she take out a loan to continue investing. The fraud was only uncovered when the victim consulted her son, who identified the scheme as a scam. The victim subsequently contacted the cyber helpline and filed a formal complaint with the North Region Cyber police, leading to a case being registered for cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy.