HDFC Bank Started a Scam to End Online Fraud

If something seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t. To highlight this and remind people of the harsh reality of the growing online frauds, HDFC Bank and FCB Kinnect decided to ‘scam to save’ with their new campaign EOSS: End of Scam Sale!

To warn people who are likely to get swayed by the number of discounts and end-of-season sales they come across, HDFC Bank’s anti-fraud influencer Vigil Aunty upped her game by morphing herself into the Bollywood actress Nora Fatehi. With the increasing number of deepfakes shocking the world, they took the audience for a ride. 

Knowing that a lot of people would fall prey to this, Vigil Aunty posed using Nora Fatehi’s deepfakes for a glamorous but ‘unheard’ fashion brand called ‘Lulumelon’.

Fatehi’s pictures and videos were plastered around the brand’s Instagram page, showcasing unbelievable discounts that had everyone talking about the brand’s EOSS.

However, when an excited but ignorant user ended up on the brand’s landing page, they got a reality check. They were SCAMMED. Sorry, SAVED from being scammed!

HDFC Bank created a fake brand from scratch and had audiences believe its legitimacy by creating an Instagram page and choosing the brand’s name, making it sound like ‘Lululemon’ - a genuine apparel brand, which made it hard for users to spot the difference between the two. They also ran ads targeting people and used AI and Machine Learning to morph Nora’s face on Vigil Aunty. 

What’s unique about this campaign is that a reputed brand like HDFC Bank risked its regard temporarily, all to safeguard people from falling prey to scamsters by letting them live through their worst nightmare for a few moments. 

Not forgetting our AI partner, Gan.ai, who helped us bring the real Nora to life in the form of Vigil Aunty. 

Acknowledging that scamsters always try to be one step ahead of a smart consumer, HDFC Bank, together with FCB Kinnect, did scam people, but only to save them!

The campaign went live on January 20th, starting with the offers on the fictitious brand Lulumelon’s Instagram page. Nora Fatehi revealed the idea behind the campaign in the reveal video, which she put up on her Instagram page on January 23.

Kartikeya Tiwari, national creative director, FCB Kinnect, said, “Discounts are a big part of the Indian psychology, which makes it so easy for AI to give an illusion of something genuine just by throwing a couple of mind-blowing offers around. This, coupled with optimism bias, which is the perception that nothing wrong could happen to oneself, was what led us to create a convincing fake brand called ‘Lulumelon’, and we hope that it bursts people’s bubble of invincibility. We had a lot of fun getting our creative and media teams to think like that of a scamster.” 

Jahid Ahmed, senior vice president and head of digital acquisition, website, social media and content marketing, HDFC Bank, added, "Many people fall victim to scams because of a false sense of security, believing it could never happen to them. We used deepfakes since they have been rampant in our society off late, with celebrities like Rashmika Mandanna, Sachin Tendulkar, and Alia Bhatt also falling victim to it. Yet, people are still missing the extent to which they can cause real harm to us. Knowing how fraudsters use End of Season Sales as a window to lure shoppers with deals too good to be true, we defrauded people to raise awareness and educate them about real fraud. However, we kept in mind that this must be done responsibly and ethically. To give this initiative a real and impactful meaning, we went further by investing time and resources in creating authentic deepfakes using advanced machinery. This allowed us to simulate realistic scenarios and demonstrate the potential risks associated with falling for deceptive practices, ensuring that the public can see and understand all red flags."

Ravi Santhanam, group head, CMO, head-direct to consumer business, HDFC Bank, said, “With 'people' at the core of our values, we believe in taking initiatives that educate and equip people for their safety. We have gone to great lengths with Vigil Aunty to spread awareness about financial fraud entertainingly, and with 'End of Scam Sale', we wanted to challenge people's optimism bias and show them how susceptible they are to fraud.”

The government also acknowledged and appreciated our efforts to create awareness against online fraud. 

Speaking about the campaign, Mayank Jain, scientist-E/director to govt. of India, digital economy division, ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY), said, “I am happy to see this initiative of HDFC Bank. In my opinion, this will help in disseminating public awareness about Deepfakes and rising negative use cases of AI (Artificial Intelligence) apart from curbing the Cyber Financial frauds.”

Naveen Jakhar, I.T.S, assistant director general (AI & DIU), artificial intelligence and digital intelligence unit, department of telecommunications, ministry of communications, Government of India, added, “I have seen the video and information conveyed through the conversation of Nora Fatehi, and Vigil Aunty is so meaningful to the citizens wherein they can easily correlate it to the new age crimes like deep fake, fake videos, fake audios which might be misused in carrying out cyber-crimes and financial frauds also. Sincerely appreciate the efforts of HDFC Bank in thinking out of the box to keep the citizens informed and aware of the subject matter.”