DataLEADS has launched GUARD - The Global Unit for Analysis of Risk and Digital Threats.
DataLEADS has launched GUARD - The Global Unit for Analysis of Risk and Digital Threats. GUARD is designed as a cutting-edge social listening and early warning platform that tracks emerging patterns of online scams, financial frauds, and the rising menace of AI-powered deepfakes across digital ecosystems.
The launch of GUARD was announced at a high-level roundtable in Delhi yesterday, attended by key stakeholders from government, banking, cybersecurity, and public administration. The initiative is aimed at strengthening the fight against cyber fraud, one grounded in data-driven strategy, early detection, and community empowerment.
At the Delhi roundtable, there was a consensus that India is facing a surge in online financial scams—sharp, complex, and growing faster than ever. This surge is striking not only for its scale, but for its timing. It comes as India’s digital journey has reached unprecedented heights—more than 80% of Indian adults today have bank accounts, and close to 500 million people use digital payments. It’s a transformation often held up as a global model of inclusion and innovation.
From L-R: Surbhi Pandit, Group Vice President, DataLEADS; Sonia Bhaskar, Programme Head, DataLEADS; Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology & CEO, IndiaAI; Surendra Nath Tripathi, IAS, and Director General, IIPA; and Syed Nazakat, Founder & CEO, DataLEADS.
But India’s very success with this digital ecosystem has made it an attractive target. In 2024 alone, ₹22,845 crore—over two and a half billion dollars—was stolen. That’s a 206% jump from last year. And despite the authorities blocking nearly a million fraud-linked SIM cards, the threats keep evolving—crossing borders, hopping platforms, striking with laser focus.
The GUARD report, Contours of Cybercrime: Persistent and Emerging Risk of Online Financial Frauds and Deepfakes in India, released at the roundtable, reveals how fraudsters are exploiting India’s booming digital ecosystem and how everyone is vulnerable. From deepfake-fueled investment scams to sophisticated social engineering tactics, the anatomy of online fraud has grown more agile, more psychological, and far more dangerous.
Based on research into 600 financial fraud cases and 100 social media scams, the report traces how scams evolve—from public lures on social platforms to psychological manipulation in private groups. It also underlines how deepfakes are now among the most potent tools of deception. Fraudsters use celebrity clones and fake endorsements to sell bogus investments and lure victims into scams masked as opportunities.
The GUARD Report
“We need to fight it and be more proactive,” said Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), who is spearheading India’s AI mission. Abhishek Singh recounted a chilling recent incident in which two teenage girls were recently lured through Instagram and subsequently kidnapped, being forced to perform dances across Bihar. The girls were initially attracted by the promise of Instagram fame, encouraged by a sudden transfer of money into their account that created the illusion of awards and celebrity status.
The GUARD report shows fintech, investment, and stockbroking platforms lead scam targets, with social media often serving as the entry point. Once contact is made, victims are swiftly moved to encrypted apps, where trust-building and personal targeting take over.
Inaugural Address by Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) Surendra Nath Tripathi, former Parliamentary Affairs Secretary and current Director General of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), posed a question that cut through the day’s technical discussion: Who should bear the cost of cyber scams? As fraud proliferates, he observed, the fault lines between banks and tech platforms are only deepening, with neither side eager to assume responsibility for shielding the everyday user in an economy speeding toward full digitization.
IIPA, our knowledge partner for the roundtable, has played a key role in modernising civil service training in India. On a recent visit, I met a cohort of census officers training for what will be the country’s first-ever digital census in 2027—an ambitious project that will blend mobile data collection with self-enumeration tools, a quiet but profound shift in how the state counts and understands its people.
Gulshan Rai, India’s first National Cybersecurity Coordinator and a veteran of the country’s digital defense establishment, warned that the national cybersecurity strategy, conceived in a pre-AI world, now lags dangerously behind. The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, and fintech innovations, he argued, has vastly expanded the attack surface—without a commensurate upgrade in policy or protection.
Supreme Court Advocate Pavan Duggal turned the conversation to deepfakes, describing their weaponization in extortion, harassment, and misinformation campaigns. The legal framework, he said, is woefully unprepared. Duggal called for new laws tailored to AI and synthetic media, but for something more foundational: public awareness. “We must invest in digital education,” Pavan said, “if we want people to recognize and resist these new manipulations.”
If you would like a copy of the report or want to attend/contribute to the conversation, do reach out at partnerships@dataleads.co.in
The launch of GUARD was announced at a high-level roundtable in Delhi yesterday, attended by key stakeholders from government, banking, cybersecurity, and public administration. The initiative is aimed at strengthening the fight against cyber fraud, one grounded in data-driven strategy, early detection, and community empowerment.
At the Delhi roundtable, there was a consensus that India is facing a surge in online financial scams—sharp, complex, and growing faster than ever. This surge is striking not only for its scale, but for its timing. It comes as India’s digital journey has reached unprecedented heights—more than 80% of Indian adults today have bank accounts, and close to 500 million people use digital payments. It’s a transformation often held up as a global model of inclusion and innovation.
But India’s very success with this digital ecosystem has made it an attractive target. In 2024 alone, ₹22,845 crore—over two and a half billion dollars—was stolen. That’s a 206% jump from last year. And despite the authorities blocking nearly a million fraud-linked SIM cards, the threats keep evolving—crossing borders, hopping platforms, striking with laser focus.
The GUARD report, Contours of Cybercrime: Persistent and Emerging Risk of Online Financial Frauds and Deepfakes in India, released at the roundtable, reveals how fraudsters are exploiting India’s booming digital ecosystem and how everyone is vulnerable. From deepfake-fueled investment scams to sophisticated social engineering tactics, the anatomy of online fraud has grown more agile, more psychological, and far more dangerous.
Based on research into 600 financial fraud cases and 100 social media scams, the report traces how scams evolve—from public lures on social platforms to psychological manipulation in private groups. It also underlines how deepfakes are now among the most potent tools of deception. Fraudsters use celebrity clones and fake endorsements to sell bogus investments and lure victims into scams masked as opportunities.
The GUARD Report
“We need to fight it and be more proactive,” said Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), who is spearheading India’s AI mission. Abhishek Singh recounted a chilling recent incident in which two teenage girls were recently lured through Instagram and subsequently kidnapped, being forced to perform dances across Bihar. The girls were initially attracted by the promise of Instagram fame, encouraged by a sudden transfer of money into their account that created the illusion of awards and celebrity status.
The GUARD report shows fintech, investment, and stockbroking platforms lead scam targets, with social media often serving as the entry point. Once contact is made, victims are swiftly moved to encrypted apps, where trust-building and personal targeting take over.
Inaugural Address by Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) Surendra Nath Tripathi, former Parliamentary Affairs Secretary and current Director General of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), posed a question that cut through the day’s technical discussion: Who should bear the cost of cyber scams? As fraud proliferates, he observed, the fault lines between banks and tech platforms are only deepening, with neither side eager to assume responsibility for shielding the everyday user in an economy speeding toward full digitization.
IIPA, our knowledge partner for the roundtable, has played a key role in modernising civil service training in India. On a recent visit, I met a cohort of census officers training for what will be the country’s first-ever digital census in 2027—an ambitious project that will blend mobile data collection with self-enumeration tools, a quiet but profound shift in how the state counts and understands its people.
Gulshan Rai, India’s first National Cybersecurity Coordinator and a veteran of the country’s digital defense establishment, warned that the national cybersecurity strategy, conceived in a pre-AI world, now lags dangerously behind. The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, and fintech innovations, he argued, has vastly expanded the attack surface—without a commensurate upgrade in policy or protection.
Supreme Court Advocate Pavan Duggal turned the conversation to deepfakes, describing their weaponization in extortion, harassment, and misinformation campaigns. The legal framework, he said, is woefully unprepared. Duggal called for new laws tailored to AI and synthetic media, but for something more foundational: public awareness. “We must invest in digital education,” Pavan said, “if we want people to recognize and resist these new manipulations.”
If you would like a copy of the report or want to attend/contribute to the conversation, do reach out at partnerships@dataleads.co.in
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