Real or synthetic?
One scenario a day. A signal here, a tell there. Build the instinct before a scam tests it for real.
An ANI wire story covers a governor's statement on an assembly session dispute, with the full quote, published on ANI's own platform, and picked up by Times of India and NDTV.
Archive
Past scenarios with the answer and explanation revealed — browse to sharpen your instinct.
A short video reel on a social media platform of a Bollywood star appearing to endorse a crypto trading platform, with a link to an unfamiliar domain.
Lip sync is close but the star's verified handle has no matching post.
Celebrity-endorsement scams almost always live only on unverified accounts and link to look-alike domains. Cross-check the star's official handle first.
A voice note claiming to be from a relative, using a saved contact's name but sent from a new, unknown number on a messaging app, asking for an urgent UPI transfer.
Voice sounds close but slightly flat; the number has no prior chat history.
A new number plus a cloned-sounding voice plus urgency is the standard family-impersonation scam. Always verify on the original known number.
A viral reel of a political speech has a platform-generated 'Made with AI' label placed by the social media platform itself below the video, linking to the platform's content policy.
Platform-applied synthetic-media label, not a user caption.
A platform label is a strong clue, but labels can be wrong. The IT Rules 2026 ask platforms to take reasonable steps to label realistic AI-made content — not to be perfect. Check the original source too.
An SMS from a 10-digit number says your Jan Dhan account will be suspended within 48 hours unless you complete KYC by clicking a link and entering your OTP.
10-digit sender, suspension threat, OTP requested via external link.
Banks and government schemes never ask for OTPs via SMS links. Jan Dhan KYC is done in person at your branch. This is a classic account-takeover phishing message.
A Zoom call from a contact listed as your company's CTO shows the CTO's face asking you to push an untested code patch to the production server immediately without going through change management.
Familiar face on Zoom, request bypasses established change management process.
Deepfake video calls impersonating senior executives to bypass approval workflows are documented in multiple enterprise fraud cases. Always verify unusual technical requests through a separate voice call to the executive's known number.
A forward claims MNREGA wages are now being distributed via a WhatsApp bot — recipients should share their UPI ID with the bot to claim pending wages for the last quarter.
Wage claim via WhatsApp bot, UPI ID collection.
MNREGA wages are paid directly to Jan Dhan bank accounts — never via WhatsApp bots or UPI collection. Any scheme claiming otherwise is harvesting payment credentials.