HISPI Project Cerebellum HISPI PROJECT CEREBELLUM

Purported AI-Generated Deepfake of Spiritual Leader Sadhguru Used in Investment Scam Allegedly Defrauding Bengaluru Woman of ₹3.75 Crore (~$425,000)

February 25, 2025

A Bengaluru woman was allegedly defrauded of ₹3.75 crore ($425,000 USD) after scammers used an AI-generated deepfake video of spiritual leader Sadhguru to promote a fake investment platform called Mirrox. The victim was recruited via Instagram and WhatsApp, and persuaded through trading tutorials on Zoom and fabricated profit screenshots. She realized the fraud only when withdrawals were blocked and additional fees were demanded. This incident underscores the importance of safe and secure AI practices, as well as robust governance mechanisms for AI to prevent harm. For those interested in shaping the future of responsible AI, consider joining the HISPI Project Cerebellum community and learn more about our efforts to map, measure, manage, and govern AI incidents through TAIM.

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Matched TAIM controls

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Alleged deployer
scammers-impersonating-sadhguru, waleed-b-(scammer-impersonating-sadhguru), michael-c-(scammer-impersonating-sadhguru), mirrox
Alleged developer
unknown-deepfake-technology-developers, unknown-voice-cloning-technology-developers
Alleged harmed parties
unnamed-57-year-old-woman-in-bengaluru-targeted-by-scammers-impersonating-sadhguru, sadhguru-jaggi-vasudev, general-public, general-public-of-india, general-public-of-bengaluru

Source

Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/1206

Data source

Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).

When citing the database as a whole, please use:

McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.

Pre-print on arXiv · Database snapshots & citation guide

We use weekly snapshots of the AIID for stable reference. For the official suggested citation of a specific incident, use the “Cite this incident” link on each incident page.