Fraudsters Promote Fake Welfare Schemes on Facebook, Instagram; Victims Lose Money Through UPI Scams
New Delhi: The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) on Monday warned that fraudsters were using deepfake videos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and state chief ministers in deceptive Facebook and Instagram advertisements to promote fake welfare schemes and defraud people.
The National Cybercrime Threat Analytics Unit (NCTAU) has detected a rise in financial fraud involving advertisements impersonating public figures and promising financial assistance, the agency said.
"These advertisements impersonate well-known public and political figures, including the prime minister of India, the finance minister, and chief ministers of states, to promote fake government welfare schemes and promise financial assistance," the I4C said in an advisory.
The advertisements, mostly circulated on Meta platforms, feature manipulated videos purportedly showing public figures announcing welfare schemes.
"The advertisements containing phone numbers either offer financial assistance under a purported welfare scheme or cashback/rewards through scratch-card or spin-and-win offers. Many of the websites fall under the category of political advertisements," the advisory said.
Victims are directed to phone numbers, WhatsApp chats or fraudulent websites to claim the promised benefits. They are then persuaded to make repeated payments towards purported taxes, processing fees, registration charges and other expenses.
The agency said these repeated payments could result in substantial financial losses.
In several cases, victims received calls from international numbers, predominantly those beginning with Pakistan's country code, +92. The callers claimed the recipients had been randomly selected for financial assistance.
Other victims were directed to websites offering scratch cards or spin-and-win rewards and tricked into approving UPI collect requests from fraudulent merchants.
Some were asked to enter their UPI PIN in payment applications under the pretext of receiving prize money, resulting instead in money being debited from their accounts.
The NCTAU advised people to verify welfare schemes through official government websites before responding to social media advertisements.
It also cautioned against sharing Aadhaar and PAN details, bank information, one-time passwords or UPI PINs with unknown persons.
The advisory urged people to verify videos and voice recordings featuring public officials, check the identity of anyone claiming to represent a government department and confirm the purpose of any payment sought in connection with welfare benefits.
It stressed that users should check the recipient and transaction details before approving UPI requests.
A UPI PIN authorises payments and is not required to receive money, the advisory said.
