#FactCheck- Doctored Audio in News18 Video Fuels False ‘Operation Sindoor’ Claim

Introduction

Global cybersecurity spending is expected to breach USD 210 billion in 2025, a ~10% increase from 2024 (Gartner). This is a result of an evolving and increasingly critical threat landscape enabled by factors such as the proliferation of IoT devices, the adoption of cloud networks, and the increasing size of the internet itself.  Yet, breaches, misuse, and resistance persist. In 2025, global attack pressure rose ~21% Y-o-Y ( Q2 averages) (CheckPoint) and confirmed breaches climbed ~15%( Verizon DBIR). This means that rising investment in cybersecurity may not be yielding proportionate reductions in risk. But while mechanisms to strengthen technical defences and regulatory frameworks are constantly evolving, the social element of trust and how to embed it into cybersecurity systems remain largely overlooked.   

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Human Error and Digital Trust  (Individual Trust) 

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Human error is consistently recognised as the weakest link in cybersecurity. While campaigns focusing on phishing prevention, urging password updates and using two-factor authentication (2FA) exist, relying solely on awareness measures to address human error in cyberspace is like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. Rather, it needs to be examined through the lens of digital trust. As Chui (2022) notes, digital trust rests on security,  dependability, integrity, and authenticity. These factors determine whether users comply with cybersecurity protocols. When people view rules as opaque, inconvenient, or imposed without accountability, they are more likely to cut corners, which creates vulnerabilities. Therefore, building digital trust means shifting from blaming people to design: embedding transparency, usability, and shared responsibility towards a culture of cybersecurity so that users are incentivised to make secure choices. 

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Organisational Trust and Insider Threats (Institutional Trust)

At the organisational level, compliance with cybersecurity protocols is significantly tied to whether employees trust employers/platforms to safeguard their data and treat them with integrity. Insider threats, stemming from both malicious and non-malicious actors, account for nearly 60% of all corporate breaches (Verizon DBIR 2024). A lack of trust in leadership may cause employees to feel disengaged or even act maliciously.  Further, a 2022 study by Harvard Business Review finds that adhering to cybersecurity protocols adds to employee workload. When they are perceived as hindering productivity, employees are more likely to intentionally violate these protocols.  The stress of working under surveillance systems that feel cumbersome or unreasonable, especially when working remotely, also reduces employee trust and, hence, compliance.  

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Trust, Inequality, and Vulnerability (Structural Trust)

Cyberspace encompasses a social system of its own since it involves patterned interactions and relationships between human beings. It also reproduces the social structures and resultant vulnerabilities of the physical world. As a result,  different sections of society place varying levels of trust in digital systems.  Women, rural, and marginalised groups often distrust existing digital security provisions more, and with reason. They are targeted disproportionately by cyber attackers, and yet are underprotected by systems, since these are designed prioritising urban/ male/ elite users.  This leads to citizens adopting workarounds like password sharing for “safety” and disengaging from cyber safety discourse, as they find existing systems inaccessible or irrelevant to their realities. Cybersecurity governance that ignores these divides deepens exclusion and mistrust.

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Laws and Compliances (Regulatory Trust)

Cybersecurity governance is operationalised in the form of laws, rules, and guidelines. However, these may often backfire due to inadequate design, reducing overall trust in governance mechanisms. For example, CERT-In’s mandate to report breaches within six hours of “noticing” it has been criticised as the steep timeframe being insufficient to generate an effective breach analysis report. Further, the multiplicity of regulatory frameworks in cross-border interactions can be costly and lead to compliance fatigue for organisations. Such factors can undermine organisational and user trust in the regulation’s ability to protect them from cyber attacks, fuelling a check-box-ticking culture for cybersecurity.  

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Conclusion 

Cybersecurity is addressed primarily through code, firewall, and compliance today. But evidence suggests that technological and regulatory fixes, while essential, are insufficient to guarantee secure behaviour and resilient systems. Without trust in institutions, technologies, laws or each other, cybersecurity governance will remain a cat-and-mouse game.  Building a trust-based architecture requires mechanisms to improve accountability, reliability, and transparency.  It requires participatory designs of security systems and the recognition of unequal vulnerabilities. Thus, unless cybersecurity governance acknowledges that cyberspace is deeply social,  investment may not be able to prevent the harms it seeks to curb. 

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References 

• https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-29
• https://blog.checkpoint.com/research/global-cyber-attacks-surge-21-in-q2-2025
• https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/reports/2024-dbir-executive-summary.pdf 
• https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/reports/2025-dbir-executive-summary.pdf 
• https://insights2techinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Building-Digital-Trust-Challenges-and-Strategies-in-Cybersecurity.pdf 
• https://www.coe.int/en/web/cyberviolence/cyberviolence-against-women 
• https://www.upguard.com/blog/indias-6-hour-data-breach-reporting-rule 

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Introduction

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Imagine a scenario where a call is received by a senior citizen. The phone rings, he picks up. On the other side of the line is a polite and seemingly genuine bank official who informs him that his bank account has somehow been jeopardised and that he should quickly move his money to a safer escrow account right away. Or another situation where a police officer ends up threatening a senior citizen over a video call and places him under a digital arrest, pressuring him to pay up money in order to be set free. 

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This is not the storyline of a heist movie. This is the frightening new digital reality of millions of elderly people living all over the world. 

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Cybercrime against senior citizens has surged dramatically over the last few years. The year 2023 witnessed people (aged 60 and above), who submitted more than 101,000 complaints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3) in the United States. The total losses reached approximately 3.4 billion dollars, which reflected an increase of 11% in comparison to the previous year. Tech-support scams, investment frauds, government impersonation schemes, etc., have been some of the most recent and significant risks to the financial security of senior citizens.

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This sharp increase in cyber fraud that has been targeting the seniors has shocked everyone, from the authorities to families. From phishing emails to fake customer care numbers to various digital payment scams, cyber criminals have deliberately been exploiting the senior population. They have repeatedly displayed the ability to wipe out a senior’s entire lifetime of savings in just a matter of minutes. The rise in cyber scams has been so alarming that even the Supreme Court of India expressed a deep concern over an estimated 3,000 crore rupees that was lost due to digital arrest scams.

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Behind these statistics, there have been several individual cases that have revealed the true reality and the personal impact of such scams. The scale of this threat was clearly illustrated when, reportedly, an 86-year-old woman from Mumbai lost 20 crore rupees in a well-planned digital arrest scam in a timeline of 3-4 months between December 2024 and March 2025. In other real-life instances, in December 2025, multiple senior citizens from Hyderabad and Delhi were manipulated into transferring tens of lakhs under the false implication of undergoing a legal action.

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This blog aims to focus specifically on the ways and means of:

• How cybercriminals operate against senior citizens, 
• The most typical online scams that target seniors and
• How to quickly identify them.

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Revealing the Insides of the Scammer’s Playbook: How They Operate, Trick and Steal

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• Picking out the prey: Fraudsters use classified information from various leaked online databases, social media profiles, online images, phone directories and in some instances, even obituaries, to build comprehensive lists of potential and vulnerable senior citizen targets. It may be shocking to know that these scammers could already be aware of your age, bank, city and the details of your family members. 

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• Masquerading and trust theatrics: Scammers pose as authoritative figures such as bank officers, RBI (Reserve Bank of India) or tax officials, telecom staff, Microsoft or Apple tech support, CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), ED (Enforcement Directorate) and even judges. They further support this spectacle by creating professional emails, logos, illegal websites and forged notices. Caller IDs can be spoofed and can even appear in the name of a trusted bank or a government helpline. In digital arrest scams, scammers may build a fake courtroom or police station to showcase their authority and authenticity over video calls. 

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• Tugging at emotions and pulling the strings of fear: Cyber fraudsters rarely rely on logic as the basis. Instead, they attack emotions. They may make statements such as: ‘your account is being used for money laundering, you may be arrested today’, thus creating feelings of fear and panic in the mind of the targeted individual. ‘You’ve won a lottery!’, another example that appeals to the emotions of greed and excitement, or ‘Grandma, I’ve been in an accident; please send money and don’t tell anyone’, a classic example that preys on the emotions of love, urgency and concern. 

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There are more such illustrations: ‘Once in a lifetime investment opportunity’, ‘verify your details in the next 10 minutes or else your account will be frozen, ‘your computer has been hacked; only our technical team can fix it’, and the list goes on.

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• The final grab: Cash, Credentials and Control: After all that pretending and emotional manipulation, cyber criminals make their last and final move that essentially closes the deal. They may ask for OTPs (one-time passwords), internet banking credentials, or remote access via screen sharing mode. In other cases, they may pressurise their victims into making direct UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transfers, RTGS (Real-time Gross Settlement) / NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) transfers and payment in the form of gift cards, vouchers or cryptocurrency. This marks the extraction phase. This is the moment where access and control is attained by the fraudster. After this, financial accounts, sensitive information, data, etc., can all be quickly drained, beyond any chance of recovery. 

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Unveiling the Cyber Scam Spectrum

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Below are some of the most commonly deployed online scams that are targeted towards the senior citizens of the present day.

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1. Imposters in Power: Impersonation scams, on a global level, have proved to be one of the fastest-growing and costliest frauds that occur against seniors. The scammers feign and impersonate officials from banks, income tax departments or even big companies such as Amazon. They would generally warn you about a failed KYC (Know Your Customer) update, your account being blocked or a legal violation. The victim is basically caught off-guard and is forced to share crucial details such as login credentials and OTPs. 

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2. The Digital Arrest Scam: From Call to Con: Lately, digital arrest has become one of the most terrifying scams that senior citizens have had to face. Seniors receive a voice call or a video call from someone who claims to be a police officer or a CBI/ED officer. Then, in a strict and authoritative tone, they make false claims about how the elderly’s Aadhaar, PAN (Permanent Account Number) or phone details have come under scrutiny for being linked to serious crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorism. They threaten the elderly that they could be put under immediate arrest, their property could be seized, or they could be publicly humiliated. Once they have established fear, they then go on to show fake documents or court orders to corroborate their assertions. 

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Thereafter, the senior citizen is informed that he or she has been placed under a digital house arrest. They force the victim to stay on the video call, sometimes for hours and days, ask them to follow certain instructions and repeatedly warn them not to communicate with anyone else. Scammers further exploit the fear of being jailed or the fear of legal action, and gradually extract huge sums of money from the victim. In some cases, this scam can unfold and continue over an extended timeline spanning several months. 

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3. Tech Support Hoax: When Help turns Hostile: As per the FBI and other multiple security analyses, tech support scams are the most commonly reported senior citizen-related frauds in the US. 

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A pop-up may appear on the elderly’s screen stating that: ‘your computer is infected, call this number now’. Or they might receive a call from a person posing as a tech support person from either Microsoft, Apple, a bank’s IT team or as an internet service provider. He then goes on to guide the elderly to install certain remote access software or to grant screen control access to fix the issue. Once they gain access, they pretend to find some serious infection in the user’s system or they talk about how the speed of the internet is slow and that it needs to be fixed. As a result, they quietly steal passwords, introduce malware into perfectly healthy systems, lock user access and demand ransom in return.

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4. Payment App Scams: Phishing, Deadly Links and OTP Snares: Phishing as a cyber scam tactic sits at the heart of many payment app scams that target senior citizens. It may begin with a harmless SMS, an email or a WhatsApp alert. These correspondences may look like they have been received from a trusted bank or a familiar online payment platform.

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The messages are engineered in a way that aim at grabbing attention and trigger a feeling of panic and pressure. They push the elderly users who spring into action without any caution or thought. The victim may be urged to click a link, coupled with warnings of a blocked account, a failed transaction, a failed delivery or a KYC update. The message may also ask the user to ‘verify’ certain account details. They send urgent payment links that put pressure on the senior citizen to act immediately and transfer the said amount of money. 

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There are also instances where an SMS or WhatsApp link may claim to offer some kind of discount or reward only if the user enters his or her card details, UPI pin or OTP. This is an extremely dangerous scenario. If these details are given away, scammers acquire access to the user’s bank account. 

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5. Family in Crisis: Staging Fake Emergencies: These cyber-enabled scams, also known as ‘grandparent scams’, specifically target senior citizens by impersonating their kin and creating a fake impression of them being in some kind of trouble. With the help of methods such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) voice cloning, fraudsters mimic the voice of a grandchild or a family member (which they originally obtain from social media posts or videos), making their deception tactics extremely believable. The caller may claim to be in an accident or could say they have been arrested or are stranded somewhere. They may plead with the senior citizen to make an immediate payment. 

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In order to avoid cross verification of their fraudulent claims, they may insist on maintaining secrecy and brainwash their victim to not inform other family members of their made-up dilemma. 

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6. Fraudulent Friendships and Hijacked Hearts: For many senior citizens who live alone and in the absence of family and support systems, isolation becomes a vulnerability that is very hard to overcome. Fraudsters, who closely monitor such individuals, wait to seize any opportunity to use this weakness as a gateway to carry out their deceptive schemes. 

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‘Companionship scams’ and ‘romance scams’ are slowly turning into a serious problem among older adults. Cyber criminals befriend or connect with older adults on social networking, matrimonial and dating apps under false pretences. As time goes by, sometimes over weeks or months, these scammers work on building emotional intimacy and trust. Once this is accomplished, they then start making requests for money. These requests can be for (fake) medical emergencies, visas, travel tickets or business deals. Sadly, victims, who are already deeply invested emotionally, end up making these money transfers, sometimes losing their lifetime savings in the process. 

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In some cases, when things go too far, intimate photos or private conversations are later used by cyber fraudsters for sextortion. They threaten to leak these personal materials unless the victim pays money, further adding elements of fear and pressure to an already manipulative situation.

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7. Fraud in the name of Health and Benefits: For most senior citizens, their daily life depends on access to basic healthcare, uninterrupted pensions and government benefits. These systems are put in place to provide not just for the seniors’ financial stability, but also to ensure their peace of mind. 

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Conversely, fraudsters exploit this dependability. Fake medical offers, insurance plans, benefit claims and pension enhancement schemes, etc., are some of the methods that are being used to defraud the seniors. Scammers offer free medical equipment or health checkups in exchange for personal information related to banking and finances. 

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Another dangerous facet of these scams is ‘counterfeit medications’. These are sold under false claims and big promises and are advertised in a manner that tempts seniors to go for it. These fake medicines not only lead to loss of money but also gravely impact the elderly’s health. 

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Spot the Scam: Tips to Identify Early Warning Signs before the Scam Unfolds

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Cyber criminals are clever, creative and notorious, but their tricks come with familiar warning signs. Timely recognition of these signs can save senior citizens from falling into the scammer’s trap. Some of the most common and apparent warning signs are discussed below:

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• Don’t think fast, think twice! The urgency ploy: Cyber criminals thrive on creating a situation of panic and urgency. In instances where a senior citizen feels that he or she is being pushed towards rushed choices, it is better to take a step back to pause and think. Any unreasonable demand to act ‘immediately’ or within minutes, especially when it involves a transfer of money or confidential information, is very likely to be a scam. Not giving in to this hasty push can save the individual from getting tangled in the scammer’s web of lies.

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• Scammer’s best friend: Secrecy and silence: First comes the urgency, and then comes the demand to stay silent. Scammers strategically cite and invent so-called ‘security reasons’ and instruct their elderly victims not to inform their bank, friends or family of their situation. This secrecy prevents verification and keeps the victim trapped. Recognising this forced isolation can stop a cybercrime before it escalates and gets out of hand.

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• Red flag! When the deal sounds unreal: Scammers lure elderly victims with extraordinary offers and deals. Lottery wins, miracle investment returns, massive discounts or exclusive time-bound rewards are a few examples. These larger-than-life promises are designed in a manner that clouds an elderly person’s sound judgment. Therefore, if an offer feels too good to be true and unlike anything anyone’s ever heard before, then that’s the time to pause and take a step back. In almost all such cases, these unbelievable deals are simply a bait for a looming scam. 

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• Beware! They want your access codes: Senior citizens need to exercise extra caution when it comes to handing out their personal access codes. No legitimate bank, government office or reputable company will directly ask for OTPs, PINs or full passwords over calls or messaging apps. If someone asks for such details, it is an indication that a fraud may be imminent. 

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• Don’t pay just yet! Dubious payment gambits: If demands for payments are made in the form of gift cards, cryptocurrency or wire transfers to personal or unknown accounts, it is most definitely a scam. Scammers use these unconventional payment methods to avoid traceability. This strategy allows them to easily disappear with the victim’s funds, which in turn makes recovery of the stolen money nearly impossible.

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• Threats and intimidation over a phone call: Hang up! It’s a scam: It is important to understand that legitimate police and court proceedings do not take place over calls or messaging apps. Genuine officials will never demand or negotiate fines, legal payments or bail online. If someone uses the intimidation ploy on a senior citizen and threatens him with legal trouble or police action unless some money is paid, then that’s a clear warning sign of a cyber scam. 

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Empowered, not Exploited: When Knowledge Becomes the Best Defence

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Cyber scams targeting senior citizens are a deliberate and very well-orchestrated industry that thrives on uncertainty, ignorance and fear. The call of the moment is for the elderly and their families to turn awareness into armour. Knowledge about how scammers operate, how they steal, and the techniques they employ can prepare and empower our seniors to protect themselves in such critical situations. The early warning signs mentioned above are more than just mere cautions. They should be taken as ‘cues’ to ‘pause, reflect and re-check’. Being wary of unsolicited communication, safeguarding financial information, double-checking hurried correspondences, etc., can nip a scam in the bud before it plays out. Most importantly, digital safety for the senior citizens is a unified and collaborative responsibility that every responsible individual of the society needs to undertake. 

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References

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• https://frontline.thehindu.com/social-issues/ai-deepfake-digital-arrest-scams-india-cybercrime/article70587955.ece
• https://www.ic3.gov/annualreport/reports/2023_ic3elderfraudreport.pdf
• https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/supreme-court-shocked-over-3000-crore-loss-in-digital-arrest-scams/article70235621.ece
• https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/elderly-woman-loses-20-crore-to-digital-arrest-fraud-3-held/article69353437.ece
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/three-senior-citizens-duped-of-rs-1-7cr-in-digital-arrest-scam-spree/articleshow/125876194.cms
• https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/82-year-old-senior-citizen-digitally-arrested-and-cheated-of-rs-116-crore-cyber-cell-arrests-three-key-members-of-syndicate20251213145528/
• https://crr.bc.edu/preventing-cyber-scams-that-target-seniors/
• https://dos.ny.gov/scams-targeting-older-adults
• https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/victims-in-8-of-top-10-digital-arrest-scams-in-chandigarh-are-senior-citizens-data-reveals-10444252/
• https://www.seniorliving.org/research/common-elderly-scams/
• https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2025/08/false-alarm-real-scam-how-scammers-are-stealing-older-adults-life-savings
• https://www.psca.org/news/psca-news/2025/8/scams-against-seniors-increasing-dramatically-ftc-warns/
• https://www.pcmatic.com/blog/the-rising-threat-of-elder-fraud-insights-from-ic3s-2023-report/?srsltid=AfmBOorC069NIYFwFO0W56nPcg_K0Wfv_oq0V-MI7fImI5ityAUrQTO9
• https://www.quickheal.co.in/knowledge-centre/guarding-our-elders-a-comprehensive-report-on-the-elder-fraud-epidemic-in-india/?srsltid=AfmBOorviPvoRuecjsOtAfVxyQEJF2vyICnr15GqbDfP1m3UXAnXndMw
• https://www.ncoa.org/article/top-5-financial-scams-targeting-older-adults/
• https://www.uchealth.org/today/elder-fraud-is-rising-and-it-is-hurting-more-than-just-finances/
• https://centerlighthealthcare.org/protecting-yourself-online-recognizing-and-avoiding-online-scams/

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Executive Summary
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Amid the ongoing conflict between the US-Israel and Iran, a video of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being widely circulated on social media. In the clip, he is allegedly heard supporting Israel and calling Iran a “terrorist state.” The video also appears to show him speaking about the idea of “Akhand Bharat.” Many users are sharing this video as genuine. However, a detailed research by the CyberPeacefound that the claim is false. The viral video is a deepfake created using AI technology.

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Claim:

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A Facebook page named “Pushpendra Kulshreshtha” shared the video on March 23, 2026, with a caption suggesting that PM Modi made strong remarks in support of Israel and against Iran.

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/832267403929874/posts/2346800409143225 
• https://perma.cc/83RX-M3L7 

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Fact Check:

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To verify the claim, we first conducted a keyword search to find any credible reports or official statements where PM Modi made such remarks. However, no reliable news reports or authentic videos supporting the claim were found. We then extracted keyframes from the viral video and performed a reverse image search using Google Lens. This led us to the original video posted on the X (formerly Twitter) handle of ANI on March 12, 2026.

• https://x.com/ANI/status/2032120552333181360?s=20 

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The visuals, including PM Modi’s attire and the stage setup, matched the viral clip—indicating that the fake video was created using this original footage. However, in the authentic video, PM Modi did not make any statements about Iran, Israel, or “Akhand Bharat” as seen in the viral version. In the original footage, PM Modi is seen addressing the NXT Summit in Delhi, where he spoke about the global energy crisis arising from ongoing conflicts and highlighted the expansion of LPG and PNG facilities in India. Additionally, a customised keyword search led us to a press release issued by the Prime Minister's Office regarding his address at the summit. The statement heard in the viral clip was not found there either.

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• https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/pm-addresses-the-nxt-summit/ 

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Conclusion:
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The viral video of PM Modi is a deepfake. He did not make any statement calling Iran a “terrorist state” or expressing support for Israel in the manner shown. The original video is from a summit held in Delhi and has been manipulated using AI to spread misleading claims.

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