Case mumbai-valueleaf-deepfake-stock-adsDeepfake fraudIndia
Mumbai cyber police bust Bengaluru agency running deepfake stock-expert ads
After an analyst found deepfake videos of himself, Mumbai Cyber Police traced paid promotions run in July 2025 by Bengaluru firm Valueleaf, reportedly for Hong Kong client First Bridge, and arrested four in October.
MediumAttack using AIStatus: Under investigationVerified case file
Open in the interactive mapCite this case
- Reported
- Jul 1, 2025
- Location
- India
- Target
- Indian retail investors; impersonated market analysts
- Severity
- Medium
- Triggered by
- Valueleaf staff; alleged client First Bridge (Hong Kong)
- Actor type
- Criminal
- Reported loss
- None reported
- CVE
- None
What happened
After an analyst found deepfake videos of himself, Mumbai Cyber Police traced paid promotions run in July 2025 by Bengaluru firm Valueleaf, reportedly for Hong Kong client First Bridge, and arrested four in October.
Impact: Reputations of named analysts misused; investor losses not quantified; police called it possibly India's first deepfake investment-fraud case.
Who triggered it
Actor: Valueleaf staff; alleged client First Bridge (Hong Kong)
Attribution: Police reportedly described Chinese companies hiring Indian marketing firms for multi-crore ad contracts; four arrested including two engineers and an MBA graduate.
Motive: Drive investors to fraudulent share-trading schemes.
How it happened
Attack vector: Deepfake videos of market experts distributed as paid Meta ads; after Meta flagged them, operators expanded ad accounts and moved domains to Dubai.
Root cause: Ad-agency intermediaries ran synthetic endorsement campaigns without verifying consent.
Timeline
- Deepfake ads begin circulating as paid promotions
- Videos removed after being flagged as misinformation
- Four arrested in Bengaluru; remanded to police custody
Response
Case registered under BNS and IT Act; arrests and raid on Valueleaf office.
Current status: Under investigation
Sources (open in a new tab)
- Lokmat Times lokmattimes.com
- AI Incident Database incidentdatabase.ai
Cite this case
Mumbai cyber police bust Bengaluru agency running deepfake stock-expert ads. AI Threat Watch, case mumbai-valueleaf-deepfake-stock-ads, Jul 1, 2025. https://aithreat.io/cases/mumbai-valueleaf-deepfake-stock-ads/
Permanent link: https://aithreat.io/cases/mumbai-valueleaf-deepfake-stock-ads/