Deepfake investment ads in India: what they are, who has been faked, and how to spot one

AI-generated editorial illustration by CyberShitty. Not a photograph or a document from the organisations named.

AI-altered videos of ministers and the RBI Governor keep turning up in ads promising daily returns. None of them endorsed anything. Here is how the ads work, what the February 2026 IT Rules change, and what to do.

01 / What these ads are

A deepfake investment ad is a short video in which a well-known face appears to recommend an investment platform or 'scheme'. The face is real, taken from genuine footage. The words are not. The Press Information Bureau's Fact Check Unit (PIB FCU) described one batch in February 2026: the faces of public figures were used to make the clips look authentic, lip movements were synced using AI, and the voices were taken from other videos of the same people, according to News On AIR.

The promise is usually a fixed daily or monthly income from a small deposit, with the public figure's name attached as a guarantee. The people in these videos did not make these statements and did not endorse any platform. That is the whole trick: borrowed trust.

02 / Who has been faked, and who said so

Every example below was debunked by the government or the person's own organisation. We are not repeating the platform names, links or apps the videos promoted.

• RBI Governor, November 2024. The Reserve Bank said fake videos of the Governor were circulating on social media claiming RBI had launched or supported investment schemes. It said its officials were not involved and that the RBI does not give such investment advice, as reported by The Tribune.
• Finance Minister, November 2025. PIB FCU said a video of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promoting an investment platform was fake and digitally altered, and that the Government had endorsed no such platform (News On AIR).
• Finance Minister, January 2026. PIB FCU said another viral video was AI-generated and that no such scheme was promoted by the Finance Minister (News On AIR).
• Finance Minister, February 2026. BOOM traced a video claiming ₹80,000 a day to a December 2025 speech in Andhra Pradesh in which she gave no investment advice; a detection tool rated the audio as fake.
• Prime Minister, Finance Minister and RBI Governor, February 2026. PIB FCU said videos showing all three giving investment advice were fake and digitally altered (News On AIR).
• Defence Minister, February 2026. PIB FCU flagged a video of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh 'endorsing' a scheme with ₹80,000 daily returns, supposed government approval and a compensation guarantee, according to Asianet Newsable.
• Finance Minister, April 2026. PIB FCU again flagged an AI-generated video of her endorsing an investment platform; the government said it had endorsed no such platform or scheme (News On AIR).

03 / Where the ad leads

The video is only the first step. The ad points you to a WhatsApp or Telegram 'stock tips' group run by a 'mentor' or 'professor'. From there the pattern is the one described in our investment and trading scam profile: an app or website shows rising profits, deposits go to changing bank accounts, and withdrawals are blocked until you pay a 'tax' or 'fee'.

If you have already been added to such a group, our guide on how to check a stock market WhatsApp group walks through checking an adviser's SEBI registration before you pay anything.

04 / What the rules now say

Impersonation was already covered. MeitY told Parliament in August 2025 that the IT Act penalises identity theft and cheating by impersonation (sections 66C and 66D), and that advisories issued on 26 December 2023 and 15 March 2024 told platforms to identify and remove content that impersonates another person, including deepfakes.

On 10 February 2026, MeitY notified the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026, in force from 20 February 2026. According to the Gazette text:

• Platforms that let users create AI-generated ('synthetically generated') content must use technical measures to stop content that falsely depicts a real person's identity, voice or statements in a way likely to deceive.
• Other AI-generated content must carry a prominent visible label, or an audio disclosure at the start, plus embedded metadata where technically feasible. Platforms may not let users strip that label.
• Large social media platforms must ask users to declare whether uploads are AI-generated and verify those declarations with technical tools.
• The window to act on a government or court takedown order drops from 36 hours to 3 hours.

Rules on paper do not remove an ad already in your feed. The PIB FCU debunk in April 2026 came after the new rules took effect, so assume these videos will keep appearing.

05 / How to spot a deepfake investment ad

You do not need detection software. The strongest signal is the offer, not the pixels.

• The pitch itself. A minister, the RBI Governor or another public figure promoting a private trading platform with fixed daily returns is the red flag on its own. The RBI has said it does not give such investment advice.
• Impossible numbers. ₹80,000 a day, or lakhs a month, from a deposit of about ₹22,000 appear repeatedly in debunked videos.
• Mouth and voice out of step. The lip movements in these clips are synced by AI and the voice is stitched from other recordings, so watch for lips that drift from the words or a voice that sounds flat or oddly paced.
• Borrowed footage. Debunked clips reuse a genuine speech from an unrelated event. If the setting does not match an investment 'launch', be suspicious.
• Pressure text. Captions saying the video is 'not for everyone', or 'government approved' and 'guaranteed' claims.
• No trace elsewhere. A real government scheme appears on official websites and handles. Search PIB's site or the ministry's own account before believing a clip.

06 / What to do

• Do not click the ad, fill in its form or join the group it leads to.
• Report the ad on the platform where you saw it, using its report option for scams or impersonation.
• Send it to PIB Fact Check through its portal or on WhatsApp at +91-8799711259 if it uses a government figure or claims to be a government scheme.
• Report the fraud on cybercrime.gov.in, the national cybercrime reporting portal.
• If you have paid, call 1930 at once and tell your bank. Our 1930 guide explains what happens next.
• Warn family members, particularly older relatives who trust familiar faces on video.