Bengaluru (Karnataka): a 39-year-old man reports losing Rs 7.66 lakh to a forex 'investment' scheme after deepfake Facebook videos of Narendra Modi, Nirmala Sitharaman, Sudha Murty and Anant Ambani appeared to promote it (July 2026; FIR 19 September 2026)
According to an FIR reported by Deccan Herald, a 39-year-old resident of Mahalakshmi Layout, Bengaluru, saw videos on Facebook on 10 July 2026 that appeared to show Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Sudha Murty and Anant Ambani promoting online investments. Believing them genuine, he clicked a link, paid Rs 22,000, and was then called from UK (+44) numbers by people claiming to represent a company called 'One Two Markets', who opened a forex account in his name. Between 10 and 22 July he transferred about Rs 7.6 lakh in several payments; when he tried to withdraw, the callers demanded more money. He went to the police and an FIR was registered on 19 September; a probe is under way. Deccan Herald calls the videos deepfakes; no technical examination of them is reported.
- AI system
- Unidentified video tool
- Occurred
- 10 Jul 2026 to 22 Jul 2026
- Reported
- 25 September 2026
- Event location
- India
- What the AI did
- Relation unknown
- Reported harm
- Financial Loss
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Finance · Everyday life
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
- 2 claims: 2 reported. 4 open questions
- People reported harmed
- 1 person
AI system as recorded: Deepfake videos (tool unidentified) depicting public figures promoting an investment scheme on Facebook
What Happened
Deccan Herald (DHNS, 25 September 2026), citing the FIR, reports that the 39-year-old from Mahalakshmi Layout came across videos on Facebook on 10 July that purportedly showed Narendra Modi and others promoting online investments, and that he believed the deepfake videos of Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Sudha Murty and Anant Ambani to be genuine. He clicked a link in the videos and sent Rs 22,000 to start investing, then received calls from five unknown numbers with the +44 UK country code; the callers said they represented 'One Two Markets' and told him he could earn more through forex trading, and opened a bogus forex account in his name. Between 10 and 22 July he transferred about Rs 7.6 lakh in several transactions to accounts the callers supplied, believing his investments were making gains. When he tried to withdraw, the callers asked for further investment. After waiting for some time he went to the police, and an FIR was registered on 19 September; a probe is ongoing. Mangalore Today (26 September) carries the same FIR account with the same figures and dates. Neither report names the victim, says which police station registered the FIR, or describes any examination of the videos.
Reported harm
A Bengaluru man lost Rs 7.66 lakh to a forex investment scam he entered after deepfake Facebook videos of national leaders and business figures appeared to promote it (his FIR, as reported by Deccan Herald and Mangalore Today).
Outcome
OngoingAn FIR was registered on 19 September 2026 and a probe is ongoing (Deccan Herald; Mangalore Today). No arrest or recovery is reported.
What remains unknown
- Which police station registered the FIR and under which sections.
- Whether the videos were examined and what tool made them; the deepfake label is the reports'.
- Who operated the scheme and where; the +44 numbers do not establish location.
- Whether any money has been traced or frozen.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. Deccan Herald's own lede calls the Facebook videos deepfakes of Narendra Modi, Nirmala Sitharaman, Sudha Murty and Anant Ambani. The FIR account it reports says only that the videos 'purportedly showed Modi and others promoting online investments'. No technical examination is reported. The relation is recorded as unknown: the AI videos impersonated third parties (public figures) to lure the complainant and did not depict, address or act for him in any way the reports establish; his dealings after clicking the link were with human callers.
2 claims: 2 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported According to his FIR, a 39-year-old Mahalakshmi Layout resident saw Facebook videos on 10 July 2026 purportedly showing Narendra Modi and others promoting online investments, believed the deepfake videos to be genuine, clicked a link and, between 10 and 22 July, transferred about Rs 7.6 lakh (Rs 7.66 lakh in total) to accounts supplied by callers from a purported forex company.
Causal attribution. The complainant's FIR as reported by Deccan Herald and repeated by Mangalore Today; the deepfake characterisation is the reports', without technical confirmation.
- deccanherald.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Sudha Murty and Anant Ambani to be genuine, a city resident fell victim to an investment scam and lost Rs 7.66 lakh.'; 'came across the videos on Facebook on July 10. The videos purportedly showed Modi and others promoting online investments.'; 'Between July 10 and July 22, he transferred Rs 7.6 lakh to the bank accounts the suspects shared in multiple transactions.'; 'The victim clicked on a link given in the videos and wired Rs 22,000 to start his investment journey.'; 'The callers identified themselves as representatives of ‘One Two Markets’ company and told him that he could earn more if he got into forex trading.'
- mangaloretoday.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'A 39-year-old Bengaluru resident allegedly lost ₹7.66 lakh after falling victim to an investment scam promoted through deepfake videos featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Sudha Murty and Anant Ambani.'
Reported An FIR was registered on 19 September 2026 and a probe is ongoing.
Causal attribution. Deccan Herald and Mangalore Today (one reporting chain).
- deccanherald.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'the victim reached out to the police and an FIR was registered on September 19. A probe is ongoing.'
- mangaloretoday.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'An FIR was registered on September 19, and an investigation is underway.'
Sources
2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- Deccan Herald (DHNS), 25 September 2026: Bengaluru man falls for PM Modi, Anant Ambani deepfakes, loses over Rs 7 lakh(opens in new tab)
s1 · deccanherald.com · News report · English · Inspected · 25 September 2026 · Shares an underlying account with another listed source · Primary
- mangaloretoday.com(opens in new tab)
s2 · News report · English · Inspected · Shares an underlying account with another listed source
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read live on 2026-09-27 (Deccan Herald, DHNS, 25 September 2026; English). The visible page is truncated; the full article was read from its JSON-LD articleBody, which also embeds a related-article headline (a different Sitharaman-deepfake case) that is not used. Applies to s1.
Read live on 2026-09-27 via the site's print view of the same article (Mangalore Today, 26 September 2026; English). Repeats the Deccan Herald FIR account; treated as derivative. Applies to s2.
Event countries: India. Affected-person countries: India. Court countries: Unknown.
The complainant lives in Mahalakshmi Layout, Bengaluru, and the FIR was registered in Bengaluru (Deccan Herald). The callers used +44 numbers, which does not establish where they were. No court proceeding is reported.
Reviewed for publication 2026-09-27: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an everyday financial adverse experience: an unnamed complainant lost Rs 7.66 lakh after deepfake videos of public figures lured him into a forex scheme, reported by Deccan Herald and repeated by Mangalore Today (one chain; claims reported).
People described
A 39-year-old man living in Mahalakshmi Layout, Bengaluru (not named)
People reported harmed in this case
1 person
0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed
One person, the 39-year-old complainant (Deccan Herald; Mangalore Today).
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Tags
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). Bengaluru (Karnataka): a 39-year-old man reports losing Rs 7.66 lakh to a forex 'investment' scheme after deepfake Facebook videos of Narendra Modi, Nirmala Sitharaman, Sudha Murty and Anant Ambani appeared to promote it (July 2026; FIR 19 September 2026). AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-bengaluru-mahalakshmi-layout-deepfake-leaders-forex-investment-scam
BibTeX
@misc{2026_bengaluru_mahalakshmi_layout_deepfake_leaders_forex_investment_scam,
title = {Bengaluru (Karnataka): a 39-year-old man reports losing Rs 7.66 lakh to a forex 'investment' scheme after deepfake Facebook videos of Narendra Modi, Nirmala Sitharaman, Sudha Murty and Anant Ambani appeared to promote it (July 2026; FIR 19 September 2026)},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-bengaluru-mahalakshmi-layout-deepfake-leaders-forex-investment-scam}
} Related cases
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