Fact Check: Nirmala Sitharaman endorses scam investment platforms? No, videos are deepfakes

Hyderabad: Videos showing Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman endorsing investment platforms are going viral on social media. We found two such videos of Nirmala Sitharaman which have amassed thousands of views, likes and comments from netizens hoping to earn quick cash.

Video 1

In one video shared on Facebook, Nirmala Sitharaman can be heard saying, “The quantum AI platform will be an easy solution for you. Over 50,000 residents of India have already registered and are earning passively with no prior knowledge required and no need for large amounts of money. It truly offers easy money for our people in our country.” (Archive)

In the video, Sitharaman can be heard saying that she does not want people to fall victim to fraudulent schemes: “It is extremely important for me that you do not fall victim to fraudulent schemes. That is why, in this video, I officially support this project. Stop entrusting your money to untrustworthy people. This is an official platform created to strengthen the financial position of Indian citizens. You no longer need to rely on government aid or worry about financial instability.”

Text overlayed on the video read, “You will only need Rs 21,000 to put in and guaranteed to earn Rs 1,600,000 within 28 days.”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video is a deepfake.

We searched for news reports regarding an investment platform endorsed by the finance minister. We did not find any trustworthy reports or social media posts stating that Nirmala Sitharaman is officially endorsing the Quantum AI platform.

Upon closely observing the video, we found that the movement of her facial features is unusual and, at times, completely disconnected from Nirmala Sitharaman’s body language. These are the usual indicators of deepfake videos.

Using Hive Moderation, we found that the video is 85.2 per cent likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content.

Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector ranked the authenticity of the audio 1 out of 100, determining that the audio is likely a deepfake.

A reverse image search of the viral video led us to a YouTube video uploaded by India Today on February 2, 2025. The video has the same visuals as the viral video. However, she doesn’t endorse any investment platforms throughout the video.

This confirmed that visuals from this video were used to create the deepfake of the finance minister endorsing the Quantum AI platform.

Video 2

In another video we found on Facebook, we can see a purported CNN-News18 news report of Nirmala Sitharaman addressing the media, talking about an investment platform. (Archive)

“My financial project for Indians: Every citizen of India who invests 21,000 rupees in this project will receive 15,00,000 rupees in the first month,” is written on the video. In a similar fashion to the previous claim, this video also shows Nirmala Sitharaman endorsing ‘an automated system that was in development for the last two years.’

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that this video is also a deepfake.

The lip movements in the video are unusual, and at times, the speech does not sync with the video, raising suspicions about the authenticity of the video. The mismatch between the audio and the visuals in the video has led us to believe that the video could be a deepfake.

Hive Moderation has determined that the video is 99 per cent likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content.

Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector ranked the authenticity of the audio 1 out of 100, determining that the audio is likely to be a deepfake.

Using a reverse image search, we found a YouTube video uploaded by DD India on February 1, 2025, with the title, ‘LIVE: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses post-budget press conference’. Comparing both videos showed that visuals from the YouTube video were used to create the deepfake.

The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation managing director, VC Sajjanar, also alerted the public about the video.

Sharing the deepfake on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “Look how scamsters have misused a video of our Hon’ble Union Finance Minister @nsitharaman, dubbing it with an AI-generated voice to promote their illegal schemes. No one can profit from network marketing without others bearing the loss — that’s the harsh truth. Since the start of my career, I’ve been relentlessly fighting against MLM companies, and the misuse of AI has only strengthened my resolve to protect innocent people from falling into such traps. Don’t trust everything you see online!”

This is not the first time scammers have used Nirmala Sitharaman’s videos to commit fraud. NewsMeter debunked similar claims of Nirmala Sitharaman endorsing investment platforms in the past. You can read our reports here and here.

Therefore, NewsMeter concludes that the claim is false. Both videos are deepfakes of Nirmala Sitharaman created for scamming people.