DocumentedDeepfake Financial FraudJanuary 15, 2024India

Sachin Tendulkar Deepfake Promotes Skyward Aviator Quest Gaming App

A deepfake video circulated on Indian social media in January 2024 showing former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar appearing to endorse the Skyward Aviator Quest gaming app and falsely claiming his daughter Sara was profiting from it. The video was constructed by re-using a real April 2023 Curly Tales interview and overlaying a generative-AI voice clone of Tendulkar.

AI system:Generative AI voice clone + face swap

Impact

Tendulkar publicly flagged the video on X on 15 January 2024, calling it 'disturbing' misuse of technology. His statement triggered widespread Indian media coverage and an FIR by Mumbai police against the gaming app operators.

Outcome

Mumbai police registered an FIR under the Information Technology Act and Indian Penal Code provisions on impersonation and forgery. The case fed into the broader 2024 push for deepfake-specific provisions in Indian law.

Sources

  1. Source 1The Weekwww.theweek.in/news/india/2024/01/18/sachin-tendulkar-deepfake-row-fir-lodged-against-gaming-app-fake-promotion-video.html
  2. Source 2BOOM Livewww.boomlive.in/fact-check/fact-check-viral-video-sachin-tendulkar-skyward-aviator-quest-gaming-app-fake-ad-voice-cloning-fake-news-24115
  3. Source 3India TV Newswww.indiatvnews.com/fact-check/fact-check-indian-cricket-legend-sachin-tendulkar-exposes-deepfake-video-promoting-betting-app-apple-play-store-curly-tales-youtube-channel-2024-01-15-912003
  4. Source 4Zee Newszeenews.india.com/cricket/sachin-tendulkars-deepfake-scandal-fake-video-discussing-sara-tendulkar-goes-viral-cricketer-urges-strict-action-2709876.html

Related incidents

Same category, country, or harm tier.

India·2024 onwards
India Deepfake Investment-Scam Epidemic (Ambani, Murthy, Sudha Murty, Sadhguru)
Since 2024, fraud networks have run stock-trading and investment-platform scams using deepfake videos of trusted Indian figures, especially Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani, Infosys co-founder N. R. Narayana Murthy, author and parliamentarian Sudha Murty, and spiritual leader Sadhguru, often stitched onto real news footage and anchors. Documented victims include two Bengaluru residents who lost a combined roughly 95 lakh rupees (late 2024), a Bengaluru chartered accountant who lost about 23.2 lakh rupees (reported January 2025), a Pune man who lost about 43 lakh rupees (early 2025), and a Bengaluru woman who lost about 3.75 crore rupees to a Sadhguru deepfake (reported 2025). Reliance Industries filed a complaint with Mumbai cyber police over an Ambani and Murthy deepfake in May 2024.
India·December 7, 2023
Ratan Tata Deepfake Used in Investment-Scam Ads
Deepfake video advertisements appeared on Instagram and Facebook in late 2023 showing industrialist Ratan Tata appearing to endorse investment schemes promising guaranteed returns. The ads were constructed with cloned audio overlaid on existing Tata footage. Tata posted a clarification on his verified Instagram account on 7 December 2023 calling the videos 'FAKE'.
India·July 9, 2023
Kerala WhatsApp Video-Call Deepfake Scam (Kozhikode)
P S Radhakrishnan, a former private-sector employee from Kozhikode, received a WhatsApp video call in July 2023 from a stranger using AI-driven face and voice impersonation to appear as a former colleague from Andhra Pradesh. The caller invoked names of mutual former colleagues and asked for INR 40,000 for an emergency hospitalisation, which Radhakrishnan transferred online. Kerala Police explicitly designated this 'India's first AI-based deepfake fraud case'; the mechanism was a face-swapped WhatsApp video call rather than voice cloning.
← Back to all incidentsSee full catalogue