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Low reported severity Criminal Charges

Ahmedabad: police say two men used ChatGPT to make fake Navratri garba passes and sold 686 through Instagram ads for about Rs 8 lakh

The Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch said in October 2026 that it had arrested two men from Rajasthan who sold 686 counterfeit passes for Navratri garba events in Ahmedabad through discounted Instagram advertisements, collecting about Rs 8 lakh. According to the police account relayed by PTI, IANS, Ahmedabad Mirror and Gujarat Samachar, the accused prepared the passes and promotional material with ChatGPT, adding barcodes and QR codes so that they looked genuine, and sent them to buyers from email addresses resembling the organisers'. IANS reports that the case came to light when customers found their passes invalid at the venues. PTI and Ahmedabad Mirror say it came to light through a complaint filed on 16 October by a garba organiser whose event name and logo were used. How many buyers lost money is not reported; 686 is the number of passes.

AI system
ChatGPT (reported)
Occurred
19 Aug 2026 to 14 Oct 2026
Reported
19 October 2026
Event location
India
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Financial Loss
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Finance · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account
7 claims: 7 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: ChatGPT, which the accused used to prepare the counterfeit passes and promotional material, according to the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch as reported by PTI, IANS, Ahmedabad Mirror and Gujarat Samachar

What Happened

The scheme. According to a Cyber Crime Branch press release reported by PTI on 19 October 2026, two men from Rajasthan advertised discounted passes for high-end garba events in Ahmedabad on a professionally maintained Instagram profile, using Meta's paid advertising to target people near the venues. The police say they prepared the bogus passes and promotional material with ChatGPT, using details of the events, and added barcodes and QR codes so that the passes looked authentic. Buyers were moved to WhatsApp and, after paying, received booking confirmations from email addresses created in the names of the events.

How it came to light. IANS quotes Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Lavina Sinha saying the main accused used ChatGPT and artificial intelligence to prepare fake passes from information and images on the organisers' websites and social media pages, and reports that the case came to light after customers discovered at the venues that their passes were invalid. PTI and Ahmedabad Mirror instead say it came to light through a complaint filed on 16 October by the organisers of an event whose name and logo had been used.

Scale. The police say 686 passes were sold for various events and about Rs 8 lakh collected. Those figures count passes and money, not people; how many buyers were affected is not reported. Gujarat Samachar reports that the complaint places the fraud between 19 August and 14 October 2026, while IANS reports the DCP's description of the scheme as running for about a month.

What is not established. All four reports relay the police account; no buyer is quoted. Which elements of the passes ChatGPT produced, beyond the police description, is not published.

Reported harm

According to the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch as reported by PTI and IANS, buyers paid for discounted garba passes that the accused had prepared with ChatGPT, and IANS reports that customers found the passes invalid at the venues; police put the takings at about Rs 8 lakh from 686 passes.

Outcome

Ongoing

The Cyber Crime Branch arrested two men in Rajasthan after a complaint registered on 16 October 2026 under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act (Gujarat Samachar). An earlier case had been registered at Santej police station on 3 October (against one of the accused, according to PTI; against both, according to Gujarat Samachar), and police say the selling continued after it. No trial outcome is reported.

What remains unknown

  • How many buyers paid for the counterfeit passes and how much each lost.
  • Which parts of the passes and advertisements ChatGPT produced, beyond the police description.
  • Whether buyers recovered any money.
  • The outcome of the criminal case.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The investigating Cyber Crime Branch says the accused prepared the bogus passes and promotional material with ChatGPT (PTI, from the branch's press release), and IANS quotes the DCP (Cyber Crime): 'He used ChatGPT and artificial intelligence to prepare fake passes'. Ahmedabad Mirror reports investigators saying the ChatGPT-generated flyers and passes were promoted through targeted advertisements, which buyers answered (PTI), and the passes were what buyers received after paying (PTI, IANS); IANS reports that customers found the passes invalid at the venues. This record treats the ChatGPT-generated passes and promotional material as AI-generated content presented to the buyers as information (communicated_with). The attribution is the investigating police's and its technical basis is not published, nor is which part of each pass ChatGPT generated.

7 claims: 7 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported According to the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch, the accused prepared the bogus garba passes and promotional material with ChatGPT, adding barcodes and QR codes so that the passes appeared authentic.

Causal attribution. Police account relayed by four outlets; one origin. The ChatGPT use is the investigation's description.

  • rediff.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The accused allegedly prepared bogus passes and promotional material with the help of ChatGPT, using details of various garba events to make the tickets look authentic. They incorporated technical elements, including barcodes and QR codes, to give the passes a genuine appearance, stated police.
  • theshillongtimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    He used ChatGPT and artificial intelligence to prepare fake passes using information and images taken from the official websites and social media pages of garba organisers.
  • ahmedabadmirror.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Investigators said the accused used ChatGPT to generate flyers and passes, promoted them through targeted advertisements and communicated with buyers via WhatsApp.
  • english.gujaratsamachar.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The accused allegedly used ChatGPT to prepare promotional content and design passes resembling genuine tickets.
Reported IANS reports that the case came to light after customers discovered at the venues that their passes were invalid.

Causal attribution. IANS's account of the police statement; no buyer is quoted.

Reported The police say 686 passes were sold for various events and about Rs 8 lakh collected from buyers.

Causal attribution. Police figures; they count passes and money, not people.

  • rediff.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The accused allegedly sold 686 fake passes worth Rs 8 lakh for several high-end garba events in Ahmedabad by advertising discounted tickets on social media, according to a press release by the Cyber Crime Branch.
  • english.gujaratsamachar.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The Cyber Cell has identified 686 passes allegedly sold for various Garba events, with the total amount collected estimated at around ₹8 lakh.
Reported Buyers were contacted on WhatsApp and sent booking confirmations from email addresses created in the names of the garba events.

Causal attribution. Police press release as relayed by PTI.

  • rediff.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    To win the trust of potential customers, they allegedly created different email IDs in the names of garba events and sent customers booking confirmations and emails after receiving payments, according to the release.
Reported A complaint was filed on 16 October 2026 by the organisers of an event whose official logo had been used, and two men were arrested in Rajasthan's Sikar district; an earlier case had been registered at Santej police station on 3 October, against one of the accused according to PTI and against both according to Gujarat Samachar.

Causal attribution. Police account as relayed.

  • ahmedabadmirror.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The racket came to light after Anant Brahmand organisers filed a complaint on October 16, flagging an Instagram account selling discounted passes using their official logo.
  • theshillongtimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    were arrested in Rajasthan’s Sikar district following a technical investigation
  • english.gujaratsamachar.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Police said the accused continued advertising and selling passes even after a case was registered against them at Santej police station in Gandhinagar district on October 3.
  • rediff.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The accused allegedly continued selling bogus garba event passes even after the case had been registered against him, police said.
Reported Gujarat Samachar reports that the complaint places the fraud between 19 August and 14 October 2026; IANS reports the DCP saying the scheme ran for about a month.

Causal attribution. Two descriptions of the period from the police account; they differ.

Reported PTI and Ahmedabad Mirror report that the fraud came to light through the organisers' complaint over the misuse of their event's name and logo.

Causal attribution. Police account as relayed by PTI and Ahmedabad Mirror; IANS gives a different account of how the case came to light (c2).

  • rediff.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    According to police, the fraud came to light after the complaint was lodged over the misuse of the name and logo of
  • ahmedabadmirror.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The racket came to light after Anant Brahmand organisers filed a complaint on October 16, flagging an Instagram account selling discounted passes using their official logo.

Sources

4 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-language source; no translation. Read on 2026-10-20 (HTTP 200). PTI report carried by Rediff, 19 Oct 2026, citing the Cyber Crime Branch press release. Applies to s1.

English-language source; no translation. Read on 2026-10-20 (HTTP 200). IANS report carried by The Shillong Times, quoting the DCP (Cyber Crime). Applies to s2.

English-language source; no translation. Read on 2026-10-20 (HTTP 200). Ahmedabad Mirror report, 20 Oct 2026, relaying the police account. Applies to s3.

English-language source; no translation. Read on 2026-10-20 (HTTP 200). Gujarat Samachar English report, 19 Oct 2026, relaying the police account; its AI-generated summary box was not used. Applies to s4.

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

Event: the passes were advertised to and sold for garba events in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and the complaint was registered with the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime police (PTI, IANS, Ahmedabad Mirror, Gujarat Samachar). Buyers are described as Ahmedabad revellers (Ahmedabad Mirror). No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-20: Published as a reported case (communicated_with): the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch, as relayed by PTI, IANS, Ahmedabad Mirror and Gujarat Samachar, says the accused prepared counterfeit garba passes and promotional material with ChatGPT and sold 686 passes for about Rs 8 lakh, and IANS reports that customers found the passes invalid at the venues. All claims rest on one police account; the accused are not named here and the number of buyers is unknown.

People described

People in Ahmedabad who bought discounted garba passes advertised on Instagram and found them invalid at the venues, and the garba organisers whose event names and logos were used. No buyer is named in any source.

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

The police figures count 686 passes and about Rs 8 lakh, not people, and no source gives the number of buyers who lost money. IANS reports that customers (plural) found their passes invalid; that plural is not a count. The organisers whose names and logos were used are not counted.

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

Tags

#chatgpt#fraud#counterfeit-tickets#instagram#india#arrest#financial-loss

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Ahmedabad: police say two men used ChatGPT to make fake Navratri garba passes and sold 686 through Instagram ads for about Rs 8 lakh. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-ahmedabad-police-say-fake-garba-passes-made-with-chatgpt-were-sold-to-navratri-revellers

BibTeX

@misc{2026_ahmedabad_police_say_fake_garba_passes_made_with_chatgpt_were_sold_to_navratri_revellers,
  title = {Ahmedabad: police say two men used ChatGPT to make fake Navratri garba passes and sold 686 through Instagram ads for about Rs 8 lakh},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-ahmedabad-police-say-fake-garba-passes-made-with-chatgpt-were-sold-to-navratri-revellers}
}

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