An Indian woman’s identity was recently stolen and used to create “Babydoll Archi,” a viral Instagram sensation that amassed 1.4 million followers in mere days with explicit content.
“Babydoll Archi” exploded onto the scene through a series of viral moments, notably a seductive dance in a red sari to the Romanian song “Dame Un Grr” and a provocative photo with American adult film star Kendra Lust.
The sudden surge in popularity led to “Babydoll Archi” trending on Google, with the internet being flooded by countless fan pages and memes.
However, an investigation revealed that the person behind the online persona was not a real woman but rather the stolen identity of a woman pseudonymized as Sanchi, according to a BBC report. The truth emerged after Sanchi’s brother filed a complaint with the police. Subsequently, Pratim Bora, Sanchi’s ex-boyfriend, was arrested for his involvement.
Senior police officer Sizal Agarwal, who heads the investigation, told the BBC that Sanchi and Bora had a fallout, and the AI likeness he created was an act of “pure revenge” against her.
Agarwal stated that Bora, a mechanical engineer and AI enthusiast, used Sanchi’s personal photos to create the profile. He has been taken into custody and has not yet made any statements. The deepfake account was reportedly created in 2020, with early posts featuring real morphed pictures of Sanchi.
“As time passed, Bora used tools such as ChatGPT and Dzine to create an AI version. He then populated the handle with deepfake photos and videos,” Agarwal explained. The account began gaining significant traction and attention at the start of this year.
Sanchi herself is off social media and only discovered the posts when mainstream media began profiling “Babydoll Archi” as an “influencer.” Her family was blocked from the account and also became aware of it only after it went viral.
Sanchi’s brother’s police complaint, submitted on July 11, included photos and videos as evidence but did not initially name any responsible party. Police were already aware of “Babydoll Archi” from media reports and speculations about her being AI-generated, but there had been no suggestion that she was based on a real person.
Police collaborated with Instagram to obtain information about the account’s creator. “Once we received information from Instagram, we asked Sanchi if she knew any Pratim Bora. Once she confirmed, we traced his address in the neighbouring district of Tinsukia. We arrested him on the evening of 12 July.”
Agarwal confirmed that the police “seized his laptop, mobile phones and hard drives and his bank documents since he had monetized the account.” She added, “The account had 3,000 subscriptions on Linktree, and we believe he had earned 1 million rupees from it. We believe he made 300,000 rupees in just five days before his arrest.”
Sanchi is “extremely distraught – but now she and her family are receiving counselling and they are doing better,” according to Agarwal, who emphasized the importance of early intervention: “But had we acted earlier, we could have prevented it from gaining so much traction.”
