Fraudsters are now using artificial intelligence (AI) to imitate senior police officers and cheat people. In one such case, cyber criminals cloned the voice of the Police Commissioner and used his photograph to convince a man that the officer was in trouble. They cheated him of Rs 50 lakh. This was among three cyber fraud cases in which Nagpur residents lost a total of Rs 1.63 crore. The Cyber Police have arrested four persons from Indore, Mumbai and Kanpur. In the first case, the fraudsters contacted the father of Nikhil Nakhat. They used the Police Commissioner’s photograph and an AI-generated voice to make the call appear genuine.

 

They claimed that the Commissioner was facing trouble and demanded money. The victim was cheated of Rs 50 lakh. A team led by PI Satish Aade and Borkute arrested Netram Shriram Chadar (29), a resident of Indore. Police seized two mobile phones from him. In the second case, Pradeepkumar Talukdar, a resident of Bajaj Nagar, lost Rs 1.04 crore. The fraudsters posed as officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA). They placed him under what is commonly known as a ‘digital arrest’ and used a fake share-trading app to cheat him. During the investigation, the Cyber Police arrested Dinesh Ambabhai Ravariya (32), a resident of Santacruz, and Arvind Kanji Gala (45), a resident of Tardeo Road. Both were arrested from Mumbai. In the third case, bank manager Yachindra Tripathi was cheated of Rs 9,55,555. The fraudsters allegedly used a forged letterhead to carry out the crime. Following an investigation, the police arrested Durgakumar Bhagat Bahadur (36), a resident of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.