Scamsters Use AI To Clone Cousin's Voice, Dupe Indore Teacher Of Rs 1 lakh

It sounded exactly like her cousin. The tone, the urgency, even the familiar way he spoke. But the voice on the phone was not her cousin's, it was generated using artificial intelligence (AI).

In what police are saying could be Madhya Pradesh's first confirmed case of AI-driven voice-modulation cyber fraud, a school teacher from Indore has lost nearly Rs 1 lakh after fraudsters used advanced technology to clone the voice of her cousin and trick her into transferring money.

The victim, Smita, a middle-aged schoolteacher living in Indore, had last spoken to her cousin, who works for the UP Police's emergency dial service, almost two years ago.

On the night of January 6, while having dinner with her family, Smita received a call from an unknown number that closely resembled her cousin's phone number. The caller claimed to be her cousin and said a friend had suffered a heart attack and urgently needed surgery at a private hospital in Indore. 

He sent her QR codes and asked her to transfer money on his behalf. Trusting the familiar voice and details, Smita transferred Rs 97,500 in four transactions. When she tried to call back, the number was blocked. The next morning, her cousin denied calling her, and she filed a complaint at the Lasudia police station.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rajesh Dandotiya said, "A teacher received a call from someone claiming to be her cousin. He sent QR codes and asked for immediate payment. There were three transactions of Rs 30,000 and one of Rs 7,500. When she called back, she was blocked. The voice was exactly like her cousin's. This strongly indicates the use of AI-based voice modulation technology." 

While digital frauds are on the rise, Madhya Pradesh has managed to recover less than 0.2% of the money lost to cybercrime over the last four years. According to data disclosed by the Home Department in the Vidhan Sabha, citizens lost over Rs 1,054 crore to cyber fraud between May 1, 2021, and July 13, 2025, but only Rs 1.94 crore, or 0.18%, was returned to victims. 

During this period, over Rs 105 crore was temporarily frozen in suspect accounts, yet only a fraction was recovered. A total of 1,193 FIRs were registered, but chargesheets were filed in only 585 cases. 

Social media misuse has become the largest source of digital crime, accounting for 37% to 53% of all cases in recent years, with hundreds of incidents involving impersonation, sextortion and blackmail on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.