NEW DELHI/GHAZIABAD (UP): A 76-year-old man found himself targeted by online scammers, leading to extortion attempts that pushed him to the brink of suicide.

The culprits employed a deepfakeimage of a retired IPS officer to intimidate and harass the victim.

Law enforcement has taken the matter seriously, registering a case and initiating an investigation into the incident.The harassment began over a month ago when 76-year-old Arvind Sharma bought an Android phone and made a Facebook profile.On October 20, Sharma received a video call through the app, and upon answering, he was confronted by a naked woman, as reported by UP's Ghaziabad Police.After Sharma ended the call, the ensuing troubles began, as stated by the police."Sharma was shown some morphed picture of him with the naked woman.

He later received a video call from a man, who identified himself as a senior police officer from Dwarka and alleged that he is being made an accused in a suicide case of the woman," PTI quoted Kavi Nagar assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Abhishek Srivastav as saying on Saturday.Overcome with fear, Sharma deposited Rs 24,000 into the account provided by the accused.

Subsequently, he borrowed an additional Rs 50,000 and sent that amount as well.Despite complying with the initial demands, the extortionist continued to press Sharma for more money.

Fearing damage to his reputation and unable to procure additional funds, the elderly individual was driven to the verge of suicide.In the end, Sharma confided in his family, who then approached the police for assistance."We came to know that a deepfake video of a retired IPS officer from UP, Prem Prakash, was shown to the elderly as the senior officer from Dwarka.

A case regarding the incident has been registered and investigations are underway," said the ACP.Deepfakes involve the use of artificial intelligence and deep learning techniques to create highly convincing fake audio or video content of a person, making them appear to say or do things they never did.

These manipulations can be used for various purposes, including misinformation, impersonation, or other malicious activities."It appears that the accused morphed an old video of the officer (retired IPS) by changing the audio and background voice.

On close examination, the voice and lip movement do not sync.

It can be said to be a morphed or deepfake video," the ACP said.In response to the complaint, the police filed a First Information Report (FIR) on November 21 and commenced their investigation.The Ghaziabad Police has also written to Meta for assistance in the case and sent the deepfake video for forensic examination.The Ghaziabad Police has taken additional steps in the case by reaching out to Meta for assistance.

They have forwarded the deepfake video to undergo forensic examination, seeking technological support to aid in the investigation.With agency inputs