Page 43 - Banking Finance December 2024

ARTICLE

‘Deep Fake’- an

emerging risk for

Banking & Financial

Sector Suraj Kumar Shoundik

CM Research
SBA

Deepfake KYC fraud is a growing concern in India, where fraudsters leverage AI-generated deepfake
videos and images to bypass Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verification processes. This has significant
implications for financial institutions, fintech companies, and other organizations that rely on KYC
to verify the identity of their customers.

A resident of Kozhikode in Kerala lost Rs. English. Fraudster disconnected the call purposely and
pretend that call has been disconnected. After the short
40,000/-: Cybercriminals defrauded a Kerala’s
resident by posing as his former colleague and
video call, he again came back on a voice call and told him
asked for the money for his siter-in-law’s surgery
to India, he will return the money. After the man was double
through a WhatsApp video call. to understand the urgency of the situation and upon landing
sure, he immediately transferred the money. But later, he
The man received an anonymous call, not in his contact list was again asked for more rupees which grow suspicion in
which he first ignored. But later he was surprised to see his mind and subsequently it was discovered to be a fraud.
several calls and WhatsApp messages from the same number
where the person on other side introduced himself as his The above fraud is nothing but a deepfake fraud which uses
former colleague. He again received call which he later the fake video/images of one person to impersonate other.
picked up. The caller trapped him by saying that he is
boarding a flight from Dubai and needs urgent financial A possible case of fraud: Now imagine a banker is busy with
his customer and suddenly he received a video call of one of
favour as his sister-in-law is scheduled for an emergency his reputed customers. On the screen appears a very
surgery at a hospital in Mumbai. He requested for UPI
familiar face of his HNI customer. He requests for an urgent
transfer of the fund to someone with her at the Mumbai
hospital. transfer of fund to his client/vendor as he is busy in meeting/
or boarding a flight / or may be some other reason.
The fraudster even switched to video-call for few second to He also mailed branch a written request for transfer of fund
make him believe that he is his colleague. To the surprise of using a fake email id which is identical to the registered mail
him, the caller, whose face was only visible and clear, looked id with the Bank. And the poor Manager falls prey to the
exactly like his former colleague. His lips and eyes fake video call which was nothing but a deepfake call and
movement were like any normal person as they talked in transferred the fund.

38 | 2024 | DECEMBER | BANKING FINANCE