NEW DELHI: Facial authentication, considered by most gadget users as the gold standard for identity verification, is now being bypassed by fraudsters, who gain unauthorised access to facial data through social media platforms and use artificial intelligence to create deepfake videos and synthetic identities.Sharing this latest modus operandi in a public advisory on Wednesday, Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) said scammers were using facial recordings obtained through deceptive video calls, fake online job interviews or social engineering tactics to generate a realistic digital replica capable of imitating facial movements, expressions, blinking pattern and voice. “These technologies may be exploited to bypass facial authentication, liveness verification, video-KYC, account recovery, and gain unauthorised access to financial and digital services,” states the advisory.Recommending preventive and added security measures, I4C suggested customer onboarding systems integrate deepfake detection mechanisms. Biometric profiles should be locked to avoid remote identity theft and a watch must be kept on any email notifications for unauthorised login or authentication attempts. Telecom providers must also be alerted immediately if mobile network connectivity suddenly stops.

This ensures a fraudulent SIM swap has not occurred.