Viral ‘Report’ On ‘Revolutionary’ Investment Platform by Nirmala Sitharaman, Narayana Murthy Is Fake

An alleged Times Of India report detailing a “revolutionary technology” that “will allow you to earn over Rs 1,950,000 a month with government support” has grabbed attention online. The “report” claims that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has “developed an innovative platform in collaboration with a leader in technological innovation, Narayana Murthy, globally renowned for founding Infosys, a company known for its brilliant solutions and ability to stabilize the economy.” 

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Fact Check/Verification

A keyword search for “Nirmala Sitharaman,” “Narayana Murthy” and “investment opportunity” did not yield any credible reports/ releases by relevant authorities on any such government supported financial app.

We noticed that the website “https://predomtkaw.com/” displayed an alleged report by the Times Of India, however, the actual URL of the news major is “https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com.”  On clicking on the various tabs listed on the navigation bar, we were directed to the registration form at the end of the same web page, further raising our doubts. 

We then checked the URL “https://predomtkaw.com” on the website Scam Detector which found it to be “Suspicious. Young. Untrustworthy,” and gave a low score of 7.1 points. Its analysis further revealed that the domain was created two months ago, and the firm’s address was listed as Kalkofnsvegur 2, Iceland. While the the information about the owner has been “redacted for privacy,” the email address listed for the site is “0032f5808673414db0335ba29dd1fd58.protect@withheldforprivacy.com”

Notably, ‘Withheld For Privacy’ website protects personal details of the domain registrants by hiding it from public view, substituting it with proxy or anonymized information provided by the service.

Kalkofnsvegur 2 is also the registered address for Withheld for Privacy, as per an article by The New York Times published in October 2024. “…but there is no outward sign that the service (Withheld from Privacy) occupies space in the six-story building. The Icelandic Phallological Museum is in the basement, while an H&M clothing store occupies the first two floors. A sales manager at Regus, a British company that operates a shared-services office on the third floor, said Withheld for Privacy had no presence in the building,” the report stated. 

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The report noted, “Because Withheld for Privacy uses the building’s address as a default for its clients, Kalkofnsvegur 2 has been linked to online forums used by a white supremacist group in the United States… to phishing sites posing as companies such as Amazon, Coinbase and Spotify to steal money and personal information from visitors; and to Russian influence campaigns intended to spread fake narratives to unsuspecting Americans.” 

The “report” also carried an alleged news video featuring senior journalist Palki Sharma Upadhyay and Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman purportedly detailing the “investment platform.” 

On carefully analysing the video, we found the jaw movements of both Upadhyay and Sitharaman appeared to be unnatural. Additionally, a portion of the decor placed behind Sitharaman seemed to be distorted, and appeared to be moving in the direction of her head while she spoke. The pronunciation of the name “Nirmala Sitharaman,” further indicated that the video might have been manipulated using AI. 

Newschecker then checked multiple segments of the clip on AI detection tool Hive Moderation which found an overall 99.9% likelihood of the media containing AI generated or deepfake content.

We also analysed certain segments of the audio heard in the video on Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector which found them to be “likely deepfake.” Similarly, another platform Resemble.ai also termed voices of both the journalist and the Finance Minister as “fake.”

Further, a Google Lens search on the video showing Sitharaman led us to an “exclusive interview” of the Minister broadcasted on YouTube channel of India Today in February 2025. It featured her in the same attire and background as seen in the viral clip. However, there was no mention of such an investment project.

“Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented her eighth consecutive budget, which she describes as a ‘people’s budget’. She announced significant tax reforms, including a simplified tax structure and reduced rates. Sitharaman outlined plans for fiscal consolidation, infrastructure development, and AI initiatives. She also addressed concerns about rupee depreciation and privatisation efforts,” its description stated. 

The article also featured a photograph showing Nirmala Sitharaman and Narayana Murthy seated together, with the laptop screen showing the website of “Quantum AI Global.”

The smooth texture and the blurry background of the image pointed towards it being AI generated. We checked the same on multiple AI detection tools which confirmed a high probability of the photo being AI generated. 

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Sightengine, for instance, found a 94% likelihood of the photo being AI generated. Another platform Hive Moderation concluded a 99.9% probability of the image containing AI generated or deepfake content. We also checked the media on WasItAI which stated, “We are quite confident that this image, or significant part of it, was created by Al.” 

The alleged report also featured the testimonies of the “users” who have benefitted from the “AI powered investment project.”

We conducted a Google Lens search on the photographs of the alleged beneficiaries of the platform, and found that they were taken from stock images websites. 

The photograph of “Construction worker Rajesh”, for instance, was actually listed as “Smiling businessman with phone in downtown” on Freepik website and that of “Taxi driver Arjun” was featured in iStock as “Happy smiling enthusiastic Indian Arabian ethnic male man guy businessman looking at camera positive winner rejoice victory celebrating win luck triumph showing thumbs up gesture outdoors city street stock photo.” The images used to show other two individuals were also taken from Freepik, and can be seen and here. 

On clicking the “Register Now” button, we were directed to another webpage asking us to “wait for the operator to call.” Notably, the URL of the same mentioned lewd words. 

Soon after, we received a call from the firm’s “representative” who recapitulated the false claims of the alleged project being endorsed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Narayana Murthy. She also explained to us the “investment opportunity” in detail, and the registration process. 

Notably, our telecom service provider also cautioned against the call, terming it “suspected junk caller.” We also checked the same on Truecaller which labelled it “Fraud.” It further revealed that the number is based in Andhra Pradesh, and the “Spam reports” for the same have gone up by 201% in the last 60 days. 

We were also  directed to one “tradgrip.com” wherein, we found that our account was already created using the details from the “registration form.” We also looked up the link on website Scam Detector which found it to be “Questionable. Controversial. Flagged,” and gave a medium-low trust score of 38.4 points. 

Sources
Official Website Of Times Of India
Scam Detector Website
Report By The New York Times, Dated October 9, 2024
Hive Moderation Website Resemble.ai Website
Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector Tool
YouTube Video By India Today, Dated February 2, 2025
Sightengine Website
WasItAI Website
Freepik Website
iStock Website
Truecaller Website

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