Beware the Digital Arrest

In April, a man in his mid-80s in Mumbai got a call over WhatsApp. The person at the other end identified himself as a CBI officer and said the man’s Aadhar card had been used for money laundering running into thousands of crores. He was placed under ’digital arrest’ and soon Rs 20 lakh was wheedled out of him while he was in that state of fear. It was only this week that the incident came to light when the victim told his relatives and a police complaint was filed. It was far from an isolated incident. This con has become common enough for a case to make it to newspapers with clockwork frequency. In Mumbai itself, the previous month, in another case a woman was placed under ‘digital arrest’ and robbed of close to Rs 4 crores. In her case, she was told a package sent abroad using her Aadhar number had been found to contain narcotics. She was coerced into a video call where over the length of a day a number of fake police officials made her transfer the amount from her account with the promise that once her innocence was established it would be returned. Eventually, like the earlier case, when she told others, the fraud became clear.

The prevalence of ’digital arrests’ has led to institutions trying to preempt them. Police agencies across India have launched awareness campaigns. Advertisements have been done and announcements made in public places. Movie star Amitabh Bachchan was roped in for one such initiative. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) this week issued an advisory stating how the scam functions. Its press release said: ‘Online scams are becoming more sophisticated, with ‘Digital Arrest’ scams being a prime example. In these scams, fraudsters pretend to be law enforcement officials, tricking victims into sending money or sharing personal information by making up fake legal cases involving victim or their family member. They initiate contact through phone calls and then switch to video calls using platforms like WhatsApp or Skype. Victims are threatened with a digital arrest warrant for alleged financial misconduct or other legal violations. Under fear, victims often give in, resulting in financial loss and the risk of identity theft.’ They gave three measures for protecting against it: don’t allow yourself to be talked into a panic and never part with sensitive financial information over phone and video; if suspicious, report to government helplines, and document all the communication, including messages, so that the case can be strong.

Senior citizens have been found to be the most vulnerable group which falls for the trap. But even others have become victims. In one shocking case, in April this year, a woman lawyer in Bengaluru was held under ‘digital arrest’ for two days with her own webcam trained on her. The scammers made her undress and she gave them Rs 15 lakh. There have since been similar cases in other parts of the country of women being made to undress and blackmailed in the scam.

The problem for the police is that a large percentage of these scammers are based abroad. Plus, most Indians are just not aware of either the law or technology to figure out that they are being scammed. It is also a poor statement of how people view police agencies. Most Indians spend their lives trying as much as possible to not have any interaction with them. They expect such behaviour and have an innate fear of them, which is exactly the sentiment the scam exploits. The government meanwhile institutes countermeasures like central websites where such crimes can be reported but cyber crime is a hydra that easily changes form. This particular modus operandi might eventually reach its expiry date by overuse but something new always waits around the corner.

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