'Deep Fake' - an emerging risk for Banking & Financial Sector

Deepfake KYC fraud is a growing concern in India, where fraudsters leverage AI-generated deepfake videos and images to bypass Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verification processes. This has significant implications for financial institutions, fintech companies, and other organizations that rely on KYC to verify the identity of their customers.

- Suraj Kumar Shoundik

A resident of Kozhikode in Kerala lost Rs. 40,000/-: Cybercriminals defrauded a Kerala’s resident by posing as his former colleague and asked for the money for his siter-in-law’s surgery through a WhatsApp video call.

The man received an anonymous call, not in his contact list which he first ignored. But later he was surprised to see several calls and WhatsApp messages from the same number where the person on other side introduced himself as his former colleague. He again received call which he later picked up. The caller trapped him by saying that he is boarding a flight from Dubai and needs urgent financial favour as his sister-in-law is scheduled for an emergency surgery at a hospital in Mumbai. He requested for UPI transfer of the fund to someone with her at the Mumbai hospital.

The fraudster even switched to video-call for few second to make him believe that he is his colleague. To the surprise of him, the caller, whose face was only visible and clear, looked exactly like his former colleague. His lips and eyes movement were like any normal person as they talked in English. Fraudster disconnected the call purposely and pretend that call has been disconnected. After the short video call, he again came back on a voice call and told him to understand the urgency of the situation and upon landing to India, he will return the money. After the man was double sure, he immediately transferred the money. But later, he was again asked for more rupees which grow suspicion in his mind and subsequently it was discovered to be a fraud.

The above fraud is nothing but a deepfake fraud which uses the fake video/images of one person to impersonate other.