Mumbai: Borivali police arrest BSc IT dropouts who used AI to sell fake birth certificates

A cybercrime investigation into fake birth certificates has taken an unusual turn with Borivli police arresting a 25yearold BSc IT dropout who allegedly used artificial intelligence to sell forged birth certificates through a fake governmentstyle portal mdash only to discover that he himself had allegedly been duped by a larger cyber fraud network running the counterfeit websitePolice believe Krishna Vinod Jaiswal acted as a subagent in a wider racket and are now hunting the operators behind the fake portal which closely mimicked official government websitesHow the fraud surfacedA 41yearold Borivli West document service operator who assists citizens with Aadhaar PAN passport voter ID and domicile services was contacted in December 2025 by a man identifying himself as ldquoKrishna JaiswalrdquoJaiswal claimed he had access to an ldquoofficialrdquo portal capable of generating birth certificates from any state in India To convince him he shared sample certificates bearing QR codes that appeared to verify the documents onlineTrusting the portal the complainantgtgt Paid registration and service feesgtgt Obtained login credentialsgtgt Generated birth certificates for customersDoubts surfaced only after some certificates failed government verificationThe breakthroughPolice approached BMCrsquos Birth and Death Registration Department for verification Officials found that all four birth certificates submitted for verification had no corresponding government records and were completely forged An FIR was then registered and the accused was arrestedAIrsquos role in the fraudPolice said Jaiswal allegedly used Googlersquos AI tool Gemini to buildgtgt His own websitegtgt Phishing pagesgtgt UPI payment linksAccording to investigators customers first received a payment link After payment they were redirected to a form seeking personal details includinggtgt Namegtgt Date and place of birthgtgt Parentsrsquo namesgtgt Aadhaar numbergtgt Addressgtgt Hospital namegtgt Registration detailsThe information was automatically forwarded to Jaiswal via WhatsApp following which he generated the forged certificate PDF and sent it to customersHow the fake portal workedStep by step1 Register on a website resembling an official government portal2 Create a login ID3 Recharge a digital wallet via UPI4 Enter applicant details5 Receive a birth certificate PDF within minutes6 Scan the QR code and see matching details on a fake verification webpageCharges on the portalgtgt Wallet recharge Rs 149Rs 300gtgt Around Rs 149Rs 150 generated up to five certificatesOfficial speakAn officer said investigators wrote to the website seeking information ldquoShortly afterwards the portal went offlinerdquo Police added that similar fake government portals can easily be found through Google searches because cybercriminals create websites with domain names closely resembling official government sitesWhatrsquos nextPolice are now tracinggtgt Domain registrationsgtgt Hosting serversgtgt Payment trailsgtgt UPI transactionsgtgt Communication recordsInvestigators believe the fake portal may be linked to a nationwide network manufacturing forged identity documents and impersonating government digital servicesWhat investigators foundAccording to police Jaiswalgtgt Ran a document service centregtgt Dropped out after firstyear BSc ITgtgt Came from a financially stable familygtgt Claimed to have generated nearly 40 fake birth certificatesgtgt Said he believed the certificates were genuine because the portal appeared officialInvestigation so farSupervisiongtgt DCP Sandeep Ghugegtgt Senior Inspector Sachin SasteInvestigation teamgtgt PSI Parmod Nimbalkargtgt PSI Kalyan Patilgtgt Constables Gaikwad Tupe Rewale and GarjePolice explain the scamAccording to investigatorsgtgt The QR code appeared genuine because it redirected users to another fake webpagegtgt The certificate looked authentic to the publicgtgt Only verification on the official government database exposed the forgeryldquoTo an ordinary person the certificate looked completely authentic However if a government official verified the document through the official government portal it would immediately be identified as fakerdquo an investigating officer saidThe twist The accused was allegedly fooled tooDuring questioning police learned that Jaiswal himself had allegedly purchased access to the fake portal from unknown operatorsInvestigators believegtgt He paid recurring fees believing the portal was genuinegtgt He thought he had legitimate backend accessgtgt He was unaware that the portal itself was fraudulentPolice however allege he knowingly sold forged certificates to customers after collecting moneyInvestigators suspect he functioned as a subagent rather than the mastermindSafety tips from policePolice have advised citizens togtgt Always verify government websites before making paymentsgtgt Check whether the website belongs to an official government domaingtgt If unsure copy the website link and ask an AI tool to analyse whether it is genuine or suspiciousgtgt Never rely solely on QR codes displayed on documents