Ahmedabad, Oct 19: Two men have been arrested for allegedly selling 686 fake passes for Navratri garba events across Ahmedabad and collecting around Rs eight lakh from unsuspecting customers, with the main accused using ChatGPT to create convincing counterfeit passes and paid Instagram advertisements to reach potential buyers, the city Cyber Crime Branch said on Monday.
The accused, identified as Virendra Singh Rathod, 21, who allegedly operated an Instagram account under the user ID ‘veer.rajjputtt’, and his associate Kishan Singh Rathod, 22, were arrested in Rajasthan’s Sikar district following a technical investigation.
“Both are residents of Rajasthan and had previously worked at events,” police said.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Dr Lavina Sinha, the accused advertised discounted tickets for several prominent garba events in Ahmedabad through Instagram.
They allegedly used Meta’s paid advertising facility to promote posts to targeted audiences in the city, increasing their reach among people looking to buy passes during Navratri.
“The main accused is Virendra Singh Rathod, who used the Instagram identity Veer Rajput. He used ChatGPT and artificial intelligence to prepare fake passes using information and images taken from the official websites and social media pages of garba organisers.
The accused allegedly created fake email addresses resembling those of event organisers and sent the counterfeit passes to customers by email. They also communicated with buyers through WhatsApp to establish trust. The passes carried booking IDs, reference numbers and QR codes and were designed to be checked at the venue, meaning their invalidity often became apparent only when customers arrived at the events. Police said the Instagram account’s posts had been viewed by around 40,000 people in Ahmedabad. The accused allegedly offered tickets at substantially reduced prices, including passes for Anant Experience advertised for around Rs 1,500 against a stated price of Rs 5,000, and Mandapam passes for Rs 500–600.
The case came to light after customers discovered that their passes were invalid at the venues. A complaint was registered with the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Police Station on October 16, following which investigators examined the Instagram account, WhatsApp number, email accounts and financial transactions linked to the alleged fraud. Sinha said the accused had been operating the scheme for about a month, although the main accused had allegedly first engaged in similar misconduct in August while working at the Pink Butterfly garba event. He was accused of defrauding the event of around Rs 35,000 through passes. He reportedly returned the money, and no formal complaint was filed in that instance. (IANS)