Google’s Nano Banana Pro is making it way too easy to forge Aadhaar and PAN cards

We are officially past the point of no return when it comes to trusting what we see on a screen. Google’s Nano Banana Pro is finally able to generate images that are so good they are completely indistinguishable from reality.

Most of the earlier “tells” such as poor text rendering and overly smooth skin textures appear to have been patched with the latest update. Of course, it was only a matter of time before scammers figured out a way to use the tool to their advantage.

Frightening accuracy

A techie based in Bengaluru named Harveen Singh Chadha has flagged this by creating full-blown PAN and Aadhaar cards using the tool, which he shared on X. The fake card belonged to a “Twitterpreet Singh” and it looked convincing enough to fool just about anyone scrolling through their feed.

Now, Google does have a feature named SynthID that puts a hidden watermark on AI-generated stuff. This can then be scanned via detection tools or even by simply uploading the image to Gemini.

The images Chadha posted even had a faint Gemini AI watermark on them if you squinted hard enough. But the problem here is that most people may not check that. In India, most staff – whether it’s hotel staff or airport security – tend to glance at ID cards and let people pass.

How to stay safe

We have reached a spot where you have to be a bit paranoid to stay safe. The best method to verify authenticity is obviously to actually verify an ID rather than simply glancing at it.

For instance, Aadhaar and PAN cards have a QR code printed on top, and you can use Google Lens or any other QR code scanner to verify if the code works. Nano Banana Pro, thankfully, still can’t generate real codes. So if your phone is unable to read the code even after repeated attempts, the ID may be fake.

That said, some scammers may still be relying on older image generator tools that aren’t as accurate. In that case, you’d still be able to spot some signs if you look closely.

ALSO READ: Google Maps rolls out Gemini integration for smarter voice navigation

The text edges might be a bit shaky or the skin texture on a face looks too plastic – almost like they have had way too much moisturiser. But if you aren’t actively hunting for those flaws, you will miss them.