How do you stop AI-generated fake endorsements using your face?

As of 24 October 2026: the service descriptions, prices and turnaround figures on this page are current.

How do you spot a fake endorsement using your face?

Six tells, and the first three are the most reliable. The account is not yours: a cloned or a lookalike profile, often with a different handle, a bio copied from yours, and fewer posts than you would have. The claims are extreme: guaranteed returns, a limited-time investment, a giveaway, a miracle product, or a request for a deposit. The call to action is off-platform: a WhatsApp number, a Telegram group, a UPI ID, a phone number, or a lookalike domain, because a legitimate brand would use its own domain. Then the media artefacts: lip-sync drift, the wrong blink cadence, a too-smooth face, a background that warps at the jaw. And the audio: cloned voices have unnaturally even background noise and no room reverb. One tell is not proof; four together is a very strong case.

How do you get a fake endorsement removed quickly?

A five-step sequence, and speed is the whole game because the money moves while the video is live. Capture first: the URL, a full-page screenshot with the address bar and a visible timestamp, the downloaded original file, the account details and the payment or UPI details in the same capture. File on the platform the same hour, using the IT Rules 2021 grievance route, and attach the media file, not a link. Report on cybercrime.gov.in and on helpline 1930, and state whether money has moved, because that changes the urgency. Then go after the money, not just the video: tell the payment gateway, the bank and the advertiser, and give them the transaction reference and the beneficiary account, because a frozen beneficiary stops the campaign faster than a takedown does. And keep watching, because the profile reappears under a new name within hours, and a one-time takedown pass is not a defence against a campaign.

What legal grounds work for a fake endorsement using your face?

Four, and they stack. Personality rights and defamation, because a false endorsement attributes false statements to a real person. Trademark and passing off, if the ad uses your brand, your company name or a registered mark. Copyright, if the underlying footage is yours, which is the fastest ground because the platform cannot argue with ownership of the source material. And the IT Rules 2021 labelling duty: since the February 2026 amendments, Significant Social Media Intermediaries with 50 lakh or more registered Indian users are required to deploy technical measures to verify AI-generated content and label it, so an unlabelled synthetic endorsement is a direct breach of an obligation the platform owes. If money moved, add the fraud complaint, because the criminal track is what actually deters the operation.

How do you stop the same fake endorsement coming back?

Three things, in this order. Publish a verified denial, from your real accounts, stating clearly that you did not endorse the product, and link it from your website and your verified profiles, so the search result carries your denial rather than the fake. Then close the routes the fake ad used: if it was a lookalike domain, get it flagged and pursue the registrar and the hosting, and if it was a compromised WhatsApp or Instagram account, secure and re-register it, because a compromised account will be used again. And set a watch, because a deepfake endorsement operation reuses the same synthetic media across accounts and platforms. A monitored watch at Rs 12,000 to Rs 30,000 per month in India finds the re-uploads in hours instead of weeks, and files the takedown for you.

What are the frequently asked questions?