"People were calling me on Instagram and Facebook. It was terrible. I deactivated my Instagram to try to understand what was going on. Later I googled it and realised what was happening, but at first I had no idea."
Ferrero says some websites put his pictures next to the Nery's photo without permission. "People were making memes, like turning it into a game show joke. It's absurd."
In 2017, Ferrero was just starting out as a photographer when he invited Nery, who he knew, to come out for a photoshoot. Ferrero said he shared the photos on his Facebook and also posted them on Unsplash - a photo website - with her consent.
"The photo blew up… reached around 57 million views," he said.
He has now deleted the link from his Unsplash account but he sent us screenshots taken earlier that showed other photos of Nery from the same shoot.
"I deleted them out of fear, because the photos were being misused. I got scared imagining this happening to other people I photographed. I felt invaded. A lot of random people coming at me. You think 'Did I do something wrong?' But I didn't. The platform was open and I uploaded like millions of others." He's also now made the original Facebook post with her photos private.
"When you see people entering your Twitter, Facebook, personal Instagram, you panic. The first reaction is to shut everything down and understand later. Some people thought it was funny, like a soap opera, but I felt invaded."
Neither Ferrero nor Nery have ever been to India and are still trying to understand how something that happened at the other end of the world could turn their lives upside down.
We asked Ferrero if all this helped uncover electoral fraud, would that be positive?
"Yes, I think that would be positive. But I don't really know the details," he said.
Nery who has never left the country says: "This is far from my reality. I do not even follow elections in Brazil, let alone in another country."