Deepfake eye-blink videos allegedly used to pass Aadhaar face checks and take loans in other people’s names
What happened
Ahmedabad’s cyber crime police arrested four people in late April 2026 after a businessman complained that the mobile number linked to his Aadhaar had been changed without his consent. Police said the group made deepfake videos with realistic eye blinks from victims’ photographs and showed them during verification to get past liveness checks, and so changed the numbers linked to victims’ Aadhaar records.
With the new numbers they could receive one-time passwords, get into DigiLocker and banking services, open bank accounts and take personal loans in the victims’ names, according to police.
- April 2026
- Ahmedabad, Gujarat
- Finance and payments
- Synthetic mediaVideos generated from victims’ photographs to get past liveness detection in face authentication. Police said the group used AI tools including Gemini and Meta AI.
- Used deliberately to cause harm
- Economic or property, human or fundamental rights
- People and businesses whose Aadhaar-linked mobile numbers were changed without their knowledge
- An official statement
- Added 01.10.2026
What followed
By 9 May 2026 seven people had been arrested, including two from Assam. Police estimated that the group made between ₹10 lakh and ₹15 lakh a year from fraudulent loans.
Everything known about the method comes from the police, and none of it has been tested in court. The coverage we read carried no response from UIDAI or from the banks and lenders named.
Sources
- Four arrested in Gujarat for using AI deepfakes to commit Aadhaar and banking fraud
Madhyamam,
- Assam duo held in AI deepfake Aadhaar fraud linked to interstate loan racket
The Assam Tribune (IANS),
Also in the AI Incident Database as incident 1472
Something wrong or missing?
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