Borivali woman loses ₹2.82cr to deepfake of Nirmala Sitharaman scam
A 76-year-old retired public sector employee from Borivali woman in Mumbai lost ₹2.82 crore after scammers used a deepfake video of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to convince her to invest in a fake international share trading platform in Romania.
She first saw the video on social media, clicked a link, and got drawn in by promises of big profits.
Quick ₹1.27L return prompted 20 transactions
The fraudsters kept her hooked by showing quick returns (she even got ₹1.27 lakh back at first), so she made 20 transactions over several months.
When she tried to withdraw her money, they demanded more cash for a supposed IPO, which finally raised red flags.
Her son told her that she had been cheated, and she called the cyber helpline (1930) and was directed to report the fraud to the North Region Cyber police.
This case is another reminder of how convincing deepfakes can be, and why it's smart to double-check before trusting online investment offers.