Digital arrest: The new way to scam people

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A few months ago, Sakshi Gupta (name changed), from Gurugram, was cheated of Rs 7 lakh.  This case of fraud was different from other cyber fraud cases because this time the method adopted by the scammers was new. The entire modus operandi of the thugs was related to the fear of law and administration.

The gang of thugs first called Sakshi, the person calling told here that he was calling from a courier company and that her courier had been caught by the custom department whereas Sakshi had not placed any such order. But when the caller read out her Aadhaar number and said that her ID had been used for many illegal activities, she got scared.

Before she could ask anything else,  the caller said that her call was being transferred to Mumbai Police Crime Branch. After this Sakshi was asked to join a Skype call. On the call, Sakshi saw a logo which matched the logo of Mumbai Police. The thugs told Sakshi that many cases of money laundering were linked to her Aadhaar number. And that, in such a situation, she will have to file an application that she has nothing to do with these crimes.

The thugs told Sakshi that she would have to transfer some money to check whether her bank account was linked to money laundering or not. After this, about Rs 7 lakh was transferred from Sakshi in two transactions. The thugs said that the money would be returned after checkin. But as soon as the money was deducted, the call also got disconnected and Sakshi was cheated of Rs 7 lakh.

This method of cheating is called Digital Arrest. It has been called so because in this case, people are cheated by showing fear of law and creating fear of legal action. At present there is no law related to digital arrest in India.

In this scam, cyber fraudsters mislead the victims. They introduce themselves as police or investigation agency officers. By giving wrong information they create fear of strict legal action and thus extort money from people on different pretexts.

In the recent past, many cases of digital arrest scam have come to light in the country. Many incidents have been registered in Delhi-NCR alone. With increasing digital literacy, cyber frauds are also increasing rapidly in the country.

According to the annual report of the Reserve Bank of India,  6,659 cases of digital fraud were reported in 2022-23, in which people were defrauded of Rs 276 crore.  According to Delhi Police data, more than 25,000 cases of cyber fraud were registered till August this year. Whereas in 2022 till August 8,000 cases were registered. Therefore, the cases of cyber fraud have increased more than three times by August 2023 as compared to 2022.

Digital arrest is now becoming a big part of cyber fraud cases, hence it is important to keep some things in mind to avoid it.

First of all, be aware yourself. Stay alert, always verify who is calling. If someone is claiming to be a legal officer then ask for his official documents,  ask for thier contact information.

Never be afraid or nervous and understand the situation from the legal point of view. Real legal matters are handled through complete formal procedure. No one can suddenly threaten like this. Never share personal information with anyone, especially banking details.  If you ever receive such a call, contact the local authorities, the police or the concerned government agency and use your intelligence to find out the credibility of such claims.