Deepfake videos with China link: 4 ad co staffers held

MUMBAI: The Cyber Police Station (West Division), Mumbai, arrested four senior employees of a digital advertising company for allegedly providing access to Facebook advertising accounts to Chinese cybercriminals.These criminals were involved in spreading deepfake videos of prominent stock market experts and business news anchors to lure and dupe investors in cyber frauds across India.The arrested individuals have been identified as Chandrashekar Naik, the vice president of Valueleaf, Jijil Sebastian, the account head, and two other employees, Danial Arumugam and Deepayan Bannerji.Police said the arrests followed a complaint by a research analyst and television stock market expert, who found his morphed videos being circulated as advertisements on Facebook and Instagram to lure investors into fake stock trading platforms.

Investigations showed that the accused were employees of Valueleaf India Services Pvt Ltd and allegedly sold Facebook Ad IDs to Chinese clients without verifying their identities. These IDs were then used to run paid promotional campaigns featuring the deepfake investment videos. According to the complaint, since Sept 29, cyber fraudsters used AI-generated deepfake videos of the analyst, created from his appearances on business news channels, to promote bogus investment schemes in the name of reputed companies.

“The company officials had prior knowledge that their platform was being used by fraudsters from China, and yet they allowed them," said Purshottam Karad, deputy commissioner ofpolice (Cyber). “Despite repeated warnings and violation flags raised by Meta, the accused continued to provide advertising access to international clients for financial gain,” the investigation report prepared by inspector Swarna Shinde said.Police said the accused received around Rs 3 crore in Indian and foreign currencies as payment for granting such illegal access. Meanwhile, police have urged citizens to remain vigilant and avoid investment offers made in online ads or on social media, particularly those claiming association with well-known market experts.