Scams are becoming way more common than they should be in India, and scammers are using AI and the internet to fool people into believing their schemes. One such method that scammers are using for their benefit a lot is “deepfakes”. They create deepfake videos of popular and influential faces using AI and make people believe what people are saying is true. To address a similar concern, the State Bank of India (SBI) has come forward and has alerted its customers and the general public about deepfake videos featuring its top executives.
These videos featuring SBI executives are being circulated on social media and they falsely claim that the bank supports investment schemes promising unrealistic returns. SBI took to its X (formerly Twitter) handle to raise awareness about the same. The tweet read, “We clarify that SBI or any of its Top Officials do not offer or support any such investment schemes promising unrealistic or unusually high returns. Members of the public are, therefore, cautioned against engaging with and falling prey to such deepfake videos circulated over Social Media.”
Previously, we also saw deepfake videos of popular celebrities such as Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Amitabh Bachchan, and Rashmika Mandanna. The misuse of technology to manipulate videos and voices makes it increasingly difficult to detect fraudulent content.
If you come across a video that you’re not sure if it is authentic or not, then watch for unnatural facial movements, odd blinking, or lip-syncing issues. You can even listen for voices that sound unnatural or mismatched. Then also check for unusual lighting or inaccurate shadows and look for errors like blurry edges or unrealistic backgrounds. Before trusting in any videos that you see online, verify the source always.