Saifi’s hands shook as he clicked on the profile. The 47 friends were now 52. Four new people had joined—real accounts, with real photos, real jobs. One was a woman named Naina Mehra. Her cover photo was a grainy shot of a young man with a camera. The same man from Saifi’s AI-generated images.
Raghav replied instantly: "No footprint. That’s the point. Start from zero. He was a photographer. He was kind. He left no will. Just a sister who misses him. That’s all you get." profile creator by saifi
Raghav wired the money within the hour. No thank you. No feedback. Just a receipt. Saifi’s hands shook as he clicked on the profile
Second, the social proof. A Facebook profile with only 47 friends—all fake, all with realistic post histories. He programmed a script to post photos at random intervals from 2013 to 2018. A photo of a chai stall. A blurry selfie at a concert. A quote from Rumi. It looked achingly real. One was a woman named Naina Mehra
The Ghost in the Machine
Saifi nearly choked on his vape pen. Five thousand dollars was six months of rent. He clicked the attached file. There was no photo, no resume, no social links. Just a single line: "His name is Arjun Mehra. He died in 2019. Make him live again."