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Kerala deepfake fraud case: Efforts on to nab accused from Gujarat, say cops
The accused who used deepfake technology to cheat a man in Kerala has been identified as Kaushal Shah from Gujarat. Efforts are underway to apprehend him.
The accused who cheated a 73-year-old man in Kerala using sophisticated AI-based deepfake technology on a WhatsApp call in July has been identified as Kaushal Shah, a native of Usmanpura in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, officers said.
“Our efforts are aimed at nabbing him as soon as possible using scientific clues as well as the coordination of police teams from Gujarat, Goa and Maharashtra, three states where he regularly travels to,” said Dinesh Koroth, inspector, Kozhikode city cybercrime police station where the case was registered.
“We found that Shah (41) hails from a family with good financial background and is the son of a retired assistant public prosecutor. He is addicted to gambling for past 18-20 years and often borrowed money from his family members and friends to gamble. When complaints against him about borrowing money and not returning them rose, his family objected and severed its links with him. He left home in 2018 and has not been seen since by his immediate family,” the officer added.
Shah was a B.Com graduate when he left his home in 2018, but it is not clear that he has studied artificial intelligence or other advanced technologies.
Through the investigation, it was found that an amount of ₹40,000 defrauded from a retired central government official in Kozhikode on July 9, was transferred to a Jio Payments Bank account under the name of Shah in Usmanpura, and transferred the same day to an RBL bank account of a gaming company in Goa. The SIM card, used for the call, was registered in the name of a farmer in Lindi, a village in Gujarat’s Mahesana district, whose identification details are suspected to have been sold to cyber fraudsters and used by people like Shah, Koroth said.
“Our investigation so far shows that Kaushal Shah has acted alone in this crime. He changes phone numbers frequently and has several bank accounts in his name. He is suspected to be a loner and does not have accomplices,” said Koroth.
It is clear that Shah did extensive background research on his victims and their immediate contacts, as is evident from the Kozhikode case, he added.
While the RBL bank account, in which the defrauded money was transferred, was immediately frozen when the case came to light, efforts to retrieve the money and return it to the victim are underway, the police said.
Ajit Rajyan, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), cyber crime in Ahmedabad, said, “Kaushal Shah is accused of using chatbot to scam people. We are working on getting more information about him and are coordinating with Kerala police. There aren’t any cases against him here and it seems he used to defraud people outside Gujarat.”
On July 9, PS Radhakrishnan, a native of Kozhikode who retired from a central government firm, had received messages followed by a call on WhatsApp from a man claiming to be his former colleague from Andhra Pradesh.
After sharing family photographs and inquiring about his daughter, the man asked for ₹40,000 for his sister-in-law’s emergency surgery in Mumbai.
When Radhakrishnan raised doubts about online scams, the man video-called him on WhatsApp for a few seconds where his face and voice resembled his former colleague. Police say that the accused had used deepfake technology to create the likeness of Radhakrishnan’s friend and cheat him. Such a case had never been reported before in Kerala.
A case under sections 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 66(c) and 66(D) of the IT Act, 2000 has been registered.
(With inputs from Maulik Pathak in Ahmedabad)
