Scammer Hunted Down With ChatGPT, Forced to Apologise; AI Outsmarts Fraudster In Viral Delhi Story

A man from Delhi tricked a scammer into pleading for mercy by crafting a counterfeit payment link using ChatGPT, which revealed the fraudster’s location and captured his photograph. The gripping story was detailed in a Reddit post that quickly gained widespread attention. The IT professional shared his detailed interaction with the scammer in the post titled, “Used ChatGPT to locate a scammer and made him beg me.”

The chain of events started when the man was approached on Facebook by someone impersonating his college senior, an IAS officer. The impostor claimed that a mutual friend serving as a CRPF officer was relocating and offering luxury appliances and furniture at steep discounts.

“The story began with a strange text message from a number impersonating a college senior of mine, an IAS officer. The message on Facebook claimed a CRPF officer friend was transferring and selling expensive furniture and appliances "dirt cheap," asking for my number to pass along. This felt immediately wrong, as my senior already had my direct contact,” he wrote on Reddit.

“Confirming with the real senior on WhatsApp solidified my suspicion: it was fraud. Initially, I considered blocking the impostor, but, realising the extent of their operation, a subsequent text came from a number with an army profile picture, quickly sharing photos of goods and demanding QR code payment. I ended up deciding to dig deeper and turn the tables,” the post added.

Once the scammer sent the QR code, the user complained that he was having issues using it. This was part of his plan to catch the scammer. 

He used ChatGPT to develop a webpage to capture the fraudster’s GPS data and photograph him via the device’s front camera. Hosting the page himself, he shared the link with the scammer, explaining that submitting the QR code there would accelerate the payment process.

“Driven by greed, haste, and completely trusting the appearance of a transaction portal, he clicked the link. As soon as the fraudster opened the link, my page executed perfectly. Because he was likely accessing the page on his mobile phone, I instantly received his live GPS coordinates, his IP address, and, most satisfyingly, a clear, front-camera snapshot of him sitting. I immediately sent the scammer his own photo and precise location data,” the user wrote.

“The effect is evident on screenshots. Within minutes, my phone was flooded with calls from various numbers, all belonging to him. He was now pleading, insisting he would abandon this line of work entirely and desperately asking for another chance. Needless to say, he would very well be scamming someone the very next hour, but boy, the satisfaction of stealing from a thief is crazy,” the post concluded.

The Reddit post received several reactions, with many users appreciating the IT professional’s efforts in exposing the scammer.

“Mad respect. I am going to use this. In fact, make this open source. Host it somewhere so that we can do it too,” wrote one user.

To requests for sharing the ChatGPT prompt for creating the code, the original poster said, “How do I share the code without the risk of someone misusing it? (Although practically anyone can get it by the correct prompt)”

Another user wrote, “I think there is more to this than simply asking ChatGPT to write code. Maybe someone with your IT background could handle it. The creators of ChatGPT likely implemented limits on its capabilities. Without these restrictions, it would be too easy for someone to trick a non-IT person into revealing sensitive information such as geolocation or access to the front camera.”

Many users were curious to know how did he get around the silent capture thing. The user named RailfanHS shared a screenshot of how ChatGPT helped him create the webpage to get it done.