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NOPE
Low reported severity

Ahmedabad, Gujarat: police say AI videos made from a businessman's photo passed Aadhaar facial authentication and a Rs 25,000 loan was taken in his name

The Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch said in statements reported from 28 April 2026 that four men had been arrested after an Ahmedabad businessman engaged in import-export work complained that the mobile number linked to the businessman's Aadhaar had been changed without knowledge. ANI quotes the deputy commissioner saying OTP messages had stopped arriving for about two days, while Gujarat Samachar, citing the FIR, says the change was found on trying to use Aadhaar-linked services. Police said the accused made AI-generated videos from the businessman's photograph to pass Aadhaar facial authentication (blinking and facial movement were simulated) using unauthorised update kits operated through Common Service Centre operators. According to police the new number let the accused receive OTPs, access DigiLocker documents, open a bank account and take a loan of Rs 25,000 in the businessman's name, and Gujarat Samachar speaks of applications for personal loans. Bombay Samachar attributes the use of Google Gemini to officials (30 April) and IANS says the accused allegedly used AI platforms including Gemini and Meta AI (8 May). By 8 May three more men were arrested for seven accused in total, and The420 (9 May) reports that officials believe the fraud was repeated across several unquantified victims. Every source rests on police statements and no source dates the event. The businessman and the accused are not named.

AI system
Gemini (reported)
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
28 April 2026
Event location
India
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Other Material Harm
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Privacy · Finance · Public services
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 1 underlying account
6 claims: 6 reported. 6 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 1 person

AI system as recorded: AI-generated blink videos made from a still photograph to pass Aadhaar facial authentication (outlets name Google Gemini, or Gemini and Meta AI, as the tools and no tool is confirmed)

Reported harm

Police statements relayed by ANI and other outlets say the mobile number linked to the businessman's Aadhaar was changed without knowledge, DigiLocker documents were accessed, and a bank account was opened and a loan of Rs 25,000 was taken in the businessman's name. Gujarat Samachar, citing the FIR, describes loan applications. No financial loss to the businessman and no demand on the businessman to repay is reported.

What remains unknown

  • No source gives the date of the number change, the account opening, the loan or the complaint. The earliest report is dated 28 April 2026. Investigators put the racket's annual revenue at Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh and officials believe the fraud was repeated across several victims, so the racket's activity may have begun before 2026, and no source dates the complainant's case.
  • Every source rests on statements by the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch. The FIR, the complaint, the videos and the authentication logs were not inspected, and the allegations against the accused have not been tested in court.
  • The sources differ on how the change was noticed (OTP messages stopped for about two days, or a failed attempt to use Aadhaar-linked services) and on whether a loan was applied for or taken. The deputy commissioner's quoted statement says a loan of Rs 25,000 was borrowed.
  • Which AI tool made the videos is not established. Bombay Samachar attributes Gemini to officials and IANS names Gemini and Meta AI, and no forensic report or provider statement was found.
  • Whether the businessman lost money or must repay the loan is not reported. The businessman lodged a complaint and did not speak publicly under a name in the sources read.
  • The number of other victims is unknown. One IANS passage refers to the complainants in the plural and officials believe others were targeted. A The420 page dated 1 May 2026, read through a text relay, says authorities said the network altered the Aadhaar-linked mobile numbers of 240 individuals over the course of a year. The figure is a police attribution, is not verified and is not used in the count.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The deputy commissioner of police for Ahmedabad Cyber Crime is quoted by ANI as saying the accused made an AI video from the complainant's photograph for biometric authentication, and the FIR-based Gujarat Samachar report says AI-generated deepfake videos made from the complainant's photograph were used to simulate blinking and pass facial authentication. Bombay Samachar (April) attributes the use of Google Gemini to officials and IANS (8 May) says the accused allegedly used Gemini and Meta AI. No forensic report, court finding or statement from Google, Meta or UIDAI was found, and every source rests on police statements.

6 claims: 6 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported An Ahmedabad businessman engaged in import-export work complained to the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch after OTP messages to the registered mobile number stopped arriving for about two days, and police found that the mobile number registered with the businessman's Aadhaar had been changed without the businessman's knowledge. Gujarat Samachar, citing the FIR, says the businessman found the change on trying to use Aadhaar-linked services for business documentation.

Causal attribution. Police statements relayed by the outlets. The deputy commissioner's briefing as quoted by ANI and the FIR summary in Gujarat Samachar differ on how the change was noticed. Neither the FIR nor the complaint was inspected.

Reported Police said the accused made AI-generated videos from the complainant's photograph to pass Aadhaar facial authentication during the update of the linked mobile number, simulating blinking and facial movement, using unauthorised Aadhaar update kits operated through Common Service Centre operators.

Causal attribution. Police allegations reported by the outlets. The videos, the update requests and any authentication logs were not inspected, and no court has found that the videos were used.

Reported Outlets name AI tools for the videos. Bombay Samachar (30 April 2026) attributes the use of Google Gemini to officials, and IANS (8 May 2026), reporting the Cyber Crime Branch case, says the accused allegedly used AI platforms including Gemini and Meta AI.

Causal attribution. Statements attributed to officials (Bombay Samachar) and to the police case (IANS). ANI and Gujarat Samachar report the AI use without naming a tool. No provider statement or technical report was found, and it is not established that either tool produced the videos in the complainant's case.

Reported Police said the new mobile number let the accused receive the OTPs, that they accessed the businessman's DigiLocker documents, opened a bank account in the businessman's name and took a loan of Rs 25,000. Gujarat Samachar, citing the FIR, describes DigiLocker access, KYC verification, bank account opening and applications for personal loans.

Causal attribution. Police statements relayed by the outlets. Gujarat Samachar speaks of loan applications and ANI and Bombay Samachar speak of a loan taken, so whether a loan was disbursed rests on the deputy commissioner's quoted statement. No bank or lender record was inspected and no repayment demand on the businessman is reported.

Reported Ahmedabad police said four men, including at least one person working at a Common Service Centre, were arrested in connection with the complaint and sent to judicial custody, and that the Aadhaar update kit used for the number change was recovered. The accused are alleged, and no court finding is reported.

Causal attribution. Police statements relayed by the outlets. The accused are not named here and the arrest details were not inspected in any police release.

Reported By 8 May 2026 police said three more men had been arrested, for seven accused in total, and were still working to identify additional victims. The420 says officials believe the fraud was repeated across several victims, and IANS says investigators said the racket generated annual revenue of nearly Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh through fraudulent loan transactions. One IANS passage also refers to the complainants in the plural. No number of other victims is stated.

Causal attribution. Police statements relayed by IANS and The420. The other victims are not identified, not counted and not shown to have been affected by AI-generated videos. The annual revenue figure is the investigators' estimate.

Sources

5 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

English original. The page shows a machine-generated summary box that repeats the lead paragraph, and only the article text is cited. Applies to s1.

Wire copy from IANS republished by SocialNews.XYZ on 8 May 2026. Applies to s4.

Read through an Internet Archive capture of 9 May 2026 (the direct request returned HTTP 403). The capture holds the whole article, about 7,800 characters. Applies to s5.

Event countries: India. Affected-person countries: India. Court countries: Unknown.

ANI's dateline reads Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], the complainant is described as Ahmedabad-based and the case is with the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch. No source places any part of the event outside India. No court is named, so court_countries is empty.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-08: Reports from Gujarat Samachar, ANI, Bombay Samachar, IANS and The420 rest on statements by the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch, so every claim is reported and the five pages are one source chain. AI involvement is recorded as reported because the police statement says the accused made AI videos from the complainant's photograph, and no forensic report or provider statement was found. The businessman, the businessman's company, the accused and neighbourhood details are not named. No source dates the complainant's case, so the event date is recorded as unknown.

People reported harmed in this case

At least 1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One businessman is reported as the complainant whose Aadhaar-linked number was changed and in whose name the account and loan were opened. One IANS passage refers to the complainants in the plural and officials say they believe others were targeted, with no number, so the count is a lower bound and those people are not counted. The accused, the Common Service Centre operators and the businessman's company are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Ahmedabad, Gujarat: police say AI videos made from a businessman's photo passed Aadhaar facial authentication and a Rs 25,000 loan was taken in his name. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-ahmedabad-gujarat-police-say-ai-video-passed-aadhaar-face-check-loan-taken-in-businessman-name

BibTeX

@misc{2026_ahmedabad_gujarat_police_say_ai_video_passed_aadhaar_face_check_loan_taken_in_businessman_name,
  title = {Ahmedabad, Gujarat: police say AI videos made from a businessman's photo passed Aadhaar facial authentication and a Rs 25,000 loan was taken in his name},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-ahmedabad-gujarat-police-say-ai-video-passed-aadhaar-face-check-loan-taken-in-businessman-name}
}

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