A 71-year-old senior lawyer practising at the Supreme Court of India has been defrauded of over Rs 38 lakh in a sophisticated cyber investment scheme that began with a manipulated image of the Union Finance Minister on Facebook and escalated through a cascade of fake identities, forged documents and escalating threats of police action. The Crime Branch Cyber Cell of Delhi Police has registered a case under relevant provisions of cheating and fraud, and an investigation into the digital and banking trail is underway.
The case stands out not only for the sum involved but for the profile of the victim. A legal professional with decades of experience at the country’s apex court was successfully manipulated through a combination of manufactured authority, social engineering and fear, underscoring how no category of citizen is immune to these schemes. The fraud began in March 2026 and ran for several months, with the accused deploying multiple personas across different stages to sustain the deception. What started as a Rs 20,000 investment pitch ended with the victim transferring funds repeatedly to unknown bank accounts, UPI IDs and QR codes scattered across multiple accounts. The case has also exposed a recurring template that Indian investigators and fact-checkers have been tracking for over a year, one that routinely misuses the Finance Minister’s image as the hook to establish credibility.
From Facebook Advertisement to Fabricated Crisis
The fraud was initiated through a Facebook advertisement featuring an edited image of the Union Finance Minister, promising substantial returns on an initial investment of Rs 22,000. This approach is not new. The Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check Unit has repeatedly flagged AI-generated videos and digitally altered images falsely showing Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman endorsing investment platforms, with debunks issued as recently as March and April 2026. Despite these public warnings, the volume of such advertisements circulating on Meta’s platforms remains high enough to catch fresh victims.
After the victim contacted the number in the advertisement, the accused gradually built trust by showing promised returns and convincing her to invest incrementally. When she grew suspicious and called the national cybercrime helpline 1930, the fraudsters pivoted rather than disappeared. They recontacted her posing as representatives of an entity called “Crypto Recovery Solutions,” claiming they could help recover her money. This pivot is a known second-stage fraud tactic, designed to extract further funds from victims who have already been primed by loss and anxiety.
The gang then constructed an elaborate threat scenario. One accused posed as Advocate Aman Taneja, another as ACP Rakesh Sharma, warning the victim that an illegal bank account had been opened in her name and that she faced imminent legal action. A fake letter purportedly from a company named Wisdom Capital was sent over WhatsApp to lend official weight to the fabricated proceedings.
How the Deception Unravelled
The victim continued transferring money under the sustained pressure of threatened legal consequences, with funds moving through different bank accounts, UPI IDs and QR codes to frustrate tracing. The total extracted across all stages amounted to Rs 38,26,729.
Suspicion grew when the accused stopped responding to calls. The victim then physically verified the Noida addresses mentioned in documents provided by the fraudsters, visiting locations in Sector-67 and Sector-10. The companies had vacated the premises and the named individuals were untraceable. She then approached the Crime Branch and filed a formal complaint.
Investigators are now analysing bank account records, mobile numbers, UPI transaction histories and other digital evidence to trace the accused. The involvement of multiple fake bank accounts and QR codes across the chain suggests an organised operation with layered financial infrastructure, a structure investigators have associated with networks operating out of locations including South-East Asia in previous Delhi cyber fraud cases.
A Pattern That Keeps Claiming New Victims
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre has warned that cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting names, photographs and videos of trusted public personalities to promote fake investment schemes through advertisements on Facebook and Instagram, with victims often shown fabricated profit dashboards and fake testimonials to build initial confidence.
Delhi Police had previously arrested eleven individuals for creating an AI-generated fake video of the Finance Minister and using it to lure investors, with the gang operating on behalf of international cybercriminals based in Cambodia. The Mayur Vihar case suggests the template is still in active use, with fraudsters replacing crude deepfakes with edited images that are harder for platforms’ automated detection systems to flag.
Cybersecurity experts advise citizens to treat any investment advertisement on social media featuring a public figure with immediate suspicion, verify schemes exclusively through official government portals or regulatory bodies such as SEBI and RBI, and never transfer money to accounts or UPI IDs provided through unsolicited digital communications, regardless of how official the accompanying documents appear.
