Recently, a new type of cyber fraud in the form of digital arrest has emerged in India, which leads individuals and businesses to face significant financial losses up to crores of rupees. A digital arrest refers to an online scam where the scammers give their identity to the victims as law enforcement agency officials such as customs officials or CBI over the phone calls or video calls and threaten the individuals to arrest them by falsely accusing them of illegal activities. The scammers later asked for money from the victim to get rid of being arrested and kept them under pressure to make the payment.
Previously, sharing an awareness post on X, PMO India has informed that “No investigative agency will ever contact you by phone or video call for enquiries”. However, the scammers are still able to continue this scam among the people in India primarily because of the lack of awareness of this type of cyber frauds.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Beware of Digital Arrest frauds!<br><br>No investigative agency will ever contact you by phone or video call for enquiries.<br><br>Follow these 3 steps to stay safe: Stop, Think, Take Action.<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/MannKiBaat?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#MannKiBaat</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/SafeDigitalIndia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#SafeDigitalIndia</a> <a href=”https://t.co/KTuw7rlRDK”>pic.twitter.com/KTuw7rlRDK</a></p>— PMO India (@PMOIndia) <a href=”https://twitter.com/PMOIndia/status/1850414995655340415?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>October 27, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
How the digital arrest scams work
A predictable pattern is often followed for digital arrest scams. In this process, the victim receives a random call in which the caller accuses the victim of an illegal case, such as money laundering or cancellation of a parcel containing illegal weapons or drugs in the name of the victim. The scammers are successfully able to convince the victim that an arrest warrant can be issued against them for their crime as the scammers appear as law enforcement officials in police uniforms and use authoritative formal language.
Therefore, as instructed by the fake law enforcement officials, the victims are convinced to transfer a certain financial amount to the bank account of the scammers to protect themselves from unwanted complications. Scammers are often found to be using fake Skype accounts for video calls and rented bank accounts for the purpose of receiving money from the victim. The traceability of these funds becomes complicated because of the quick conversion of the funds into cryptocurrency by the scammers.
A recent example of a Digital arrest scam
Recently, a Noida-based family was found to be a victim of digital arrest, which led to financial losses of more than Rs 1 crore. By posing as government officials, some unknown people kept the Noida-based family under digital arrest for five days. According to police, the name of the victim is ChandrabhanPaliwal. As per the complaint made by ChandrabhanPaliwal to police, in February, on 1st February, 2025, a phone call from an unknown number was received by him. The person on the other end of the phone asked Chandrabhan to make contact with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and also threatened that his SIM card would be blocked.
After some time, another phone call came, and the caller introduced himself as an IPS (Indian Police Service) officer who had been calling from the Kolava Police Station in Mumbai. A few minutes later, the fake IPS officer made a video call to Chandrabha in which the fake IPS officer said about issuing an arrest warrant against him if he failed to cooperate with the officials.
Chandrabhan said that the allegation of extorting money had been madeagainst him by the fake police officer. The caller also said that there were 24 cases registered against him at different locations. It has also been claimed by the fake police officer that the investigation on the matter of money laundering has been undergone by the CBI.
The victim informed the police that his family members, including his wife and daughter, were under digital arrest after the arrival of the video call. The fraudsters threatened the victim’s family that they would be soon arrested if they failed to pay the asked amount. The family members were also warned against stepping outside or contacting anyone. As per PreetiYadav, the Deputy Commissioner of Police of Cyber Crime, an amount of Rs 1.10 crore has been paid by the victim to the scammers in five days. After the realisation of the fraud, Chandrabhan registered a complaint in the police station and therefore, the police are further investigating the case.
Initiatives taken by the Government to prevent digital arrest scams
In order to deal with various types of cyber-crimes, including digital arrest scams, in an effective and comprehensive manner, the central government has undertaken several initiatives. In this regard, the “Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (14C) has been established by the Ministry of Home Affairs for the navigation of all types of cybercrimes in India.
Public awareness is the key to the prevention of digital scams. Therefore, the central government is also found to be introducing a comprehensive awareness programme to inform a wider audience about digital scams. The activities of the awareness program include newspaper advertisement, digital displays and announcements on airports and railway stations, metros, dissemination of awareness messages through 14C social media accounts, SMS and campaign through PrasarBharti and many more.
Sh. Nishant Kumar, Director of I4C, discusses "Digital Arrest" scams where fraudsters impersonate law enforcement, accuse victims of crimes via calls, and coerce them into video interrogations.
— CyberDost I4C (@Cyberdost) January 28, 2025
Remember, there's no such thing as a #DigitalArrest! #I4C #AapkaCyberDost pic.twitter.com/9KuCbhKzel
More than 59000 Whatsapp accounts and 1700 Skype IDs used for making scams have been identified and blocked by 14C. The central government has also launched the “National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal” as a part of 14C to allow people to report incidents related to all types of cyber-crimes with particular emphasis on cyber-crimes against children and women.
Under 14C, the “Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System” has also been introduced by the central government in order to enable the public to immediately report financial fraud. As a result, it has been possible to save more than Rs 3431 crore due to taking immediate actions based on more than 9.94 lakh complaints. People are also advised to call the toll-free helpline number 1930 to get help in lodging online cyber complaints.
For the identification and blocking of incoming international spoofed calls, a system has been leveraged by the Telecom Service Providers and the central government. These international spoofed calls are found to be used by cybercriminals in digital arrest scams. As of 15th November 2024, the Government of India has blocked more than 132000 IMEIs and 6.69 lakhs SIM.
FAQ
1. What is a digital arrest scam?
This refers to an online scam where the scammers give their identity to the victims as law enforcement agency officials such as customs officials or CBI over the phone calls or video calls and threaten the individuals to arrest them by falsely accusing them of illegal activities. The scammers later asked for money from the victim to get rid of being arrested and kept them under pressure to make the payment.
2. How much money did the Noida-based family lose in the digital arrest scam?
An amount of Rs 1.10 crore has been paid by the victim to the scammers in five days. The name of the victim is ChandrabhanPaliwal.
3. What should you do if you become a victim of a cyber scam?
People are also advised to call the toll-free helpline number 1930 to get help in lodging online cyber complaints.
4. Can the funds transferred to scammers be traced?
The traceability of these funds becomes complicated because of the quick conversion of the funds into cryptocurrency by the scammers.
5. What measures has the government taken to raise awareness about digital scams?
The central government is also found to be introducing a comprehensive awareness programme to inform a wider audience about digital scams. The activities of the awareness program include newspaper advertisement, digital displays and announcements on airports and railway stations, metros, dissemination of awareness messages through 14C social media accounts, SMS and campaign through PrasarBharti and many more.