Karnataka lawyer duped of ₹5.93L using AI-generated Trump video
What's the story
A 38-year-old lawyer from Karnataka was scammed out of ₹5.93 lakh by fraudsters using an artificial intelligence-generated video of United States President Donald Trump.
The scammers lured him with a fake investment opportunity in "Donald Trump Hotel Rentals," promising high returns.
The lawyer first encountered the scam in January when he saw a YouTube video promoting the investment scheme and joined a Telegram group linked to it.
Investment details
Lawyer's investment journey and subsequent loss
The lawyer was directed to download a mobile app and fill out a form with his bank details. He paid ₹1,500 to activate his account, expecting a 3% daily return on his investment.
Initially, he received returns and profits on his investments, which made him trust the scheme more.
However, he eventually stopped receiving returns and couldn't recover the invested amount.
Widespread scam
Over 200 victims and ₹2 crore lost in Karnataka
"It started with ₹5,000 and ended at ₹1,00,000. Finally, they asked me to pay taxes to withdraw the money, but later they did not return the money," the advocate said.
At one point, the scammers also told him that if he invested ₹1,00,000, the amount would be doubled in just 24 hours.
The scam has affected over 200 people across Karnataka, including Bengaluru, Tumakuru, Mangaluru, and Haveri. The Haveri Cybercrime Economics and Narcotics (CEN) police station is investigating the matter.
Fraud investigation
Investigation and public warning issued by police
The case was registered under the IT Act and Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
During the investigation, it was found that crores of rupees had been swindled across India through similar fake links like the Trump Hotel Rental scheme.
The police have frozen ₹1.5 lakh in a bank account linked to the scam.
They also urged people to reject unknown links and stay vigilant against such frauds.