MUMBAI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that she has seen several deepfake videos of herself being circulated online, manipulated to mislead citizens and distort facts -- a reminder of the urgency with which we must strengthen our defences.
Addressing the 6th edition of the Global FinTech Fest 2025 in Mumbai, she said the new generation of fraud is no longer about breaching firewalls, it is about hacking trust.
“Criminals are using AI to mimic voices, clone identities and create lifelike videos that can manipulate people, ” she told the gathering.
To address rising impersonation and false representation targeting investors, it is heartening to note that SEBI and NPCI have launched a dedicated UPI handle for SEBI-registered investor-facing intermediaries with category suffixes such as .brk for brokers and .mf for mutual funds.