Fake Rs 69,000 cheque made with AI goes viral, netizens say ‘Photoshop did this 10 years ago’

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New Delhi: As artificial intelligence tools grow more advanced, concerns about their misuse are also increasing. A recent viral post on X highlighted these fears after a user shared a picture of a hyper-realistic cheque created using AI.

The post, shared by Shirish (@shiri_shh), showed what appeared to be an official cheque from UCO Bank issued in his own name for Rs 69,000. He wrote, “This was made with ChatGPT Image 2.0. We are so cooked.”

Ai-generated cheque looks convincingly real

At first glance, the cheque appeared authentic, featuring typical elements such as an account number, branch details, signature section and even a MICR band. The image surfaced soon after OpenAI rolled out improved image-generation capabilities aimed at producing sharper and more usable visuals.

The post, which has garnered over 5.5 million views, quickly triggered reactions online. Some users expressed concern about the possibility of AI being used to create forged financial documents and other official records.

One user cautioned, “This is exactly why I’m too skeptical about GPT-Image-V2. Its too easy to build forged documents, deepfakes and other official records like passports, visa etc. Imagine the situation if and when Opensource is able to build something like this. We as humans are cooked.”

Others dismiss immediate threat

However, several users argued that such AI-generated images cannot easily be used in real-world banking systems due to strict security measures.

One user explained, “Don’t panic! Regardless of the date, you cannot encash this cheque. It is not a CTS compliant cheque and won’t be accepted. For CTS complaince you need a “VOID” mark in an ink that only shows up under UV light. ChatGPT cannot produce that.”

Another added, “Still the paper used in cheque book cant be copied.”

Debate over real risk

Some users also pointed out that creating fake-looking documents is not new. “You could already do that in photoshop 10 years ago, the difficulty of writing false info on official looking documents is not what is keeping people from doing it,” one comment read.

Others took a lighter tone, with one user joking, “AI can generate a perfect cheque… meanwhile my bank still rejects my own signature like nice try criminal.”