“Digital Arrest” Scams in India: Fear, Fraud, and the Collapse of Cyber Safeguards

“Digital arrest” has emerged as one of the most insidious cyber frauds in circulation. There are increasing reports of incidents in which scammers masquerading as police officers or officials of central investigative agencies trap victims in a web of fear and fabricated legality, extracting large sums of money through sustained psychological pressure.

The method is brutally effective. Victims are warned of imminent arrest, ordered to remain continuously “available” on phone or video calls, and cut off from family or colleagues as the pressure mounts. Money transfers are presented as a way to “resolve” the supposed case.

The premise, however, is pure fiction. Indian law does not recognise anything remotely resembling a “digital arrest”. No police force or investigative agency has the authority to arrest, interrogate, or place a citizen under custody over a phone call or video link. The power of the scam lies not in legality but in fear and in how convincingly it is staged. In many cases, victims are effectively confined within their homes by anonymous callers posing as law enforcement officials.

For instance, in a case reported from Kutch, a couple aged 85 and 83 were allegedly defrauded of Rs.1.07 crore after being kept under “digital arrest” for nearly a month. The scammers accused them of involvement in a money-laundering case and compelled them to remain on uninterrupted video calls.

To reinforce the deception, forged documents—purported court orders, arrest warrants, and papers bearing what appeared to be Supreme Court seals—were shared over WhatsApp. Between December 31 and January 28, the couple were forced to transfer money through multiple RTGS and NEFT transactions to several bank accounts.

Another couple in Delhi, aged 81 and 77, were cheated of nearly Rs.15 crore. The callers, posing as police officers, accused them of circulating obscene videos and of money laundering. The victims—a doctor and an engineer who had lived in the US for nearly 45 years before returning to India after retirement in 2015—were told that arrest warrants had been issued against them and that they would remain under video surveillance until their names were “cleared”. They were made to confine themselves at home from December 24 to January 9.

According to the police, three people have been arrested: two from Gujarat and one from Prayagraj. Investigators allege that two of them provided, for a commission, bank accounts for transactions, while the third facilitated access to mule accounts of the scammers. The couple were kept on continuous WhatsApp video calls, monitored by individuals impersonating police officers. At one point, they were even connected to what was presented as a virtual Supreme Court hearing, complete with a supposed judge, public prosecutor, and defence lawyer.

While most victims are senior citizens, law enforcement officials and cybercrime experts stress that the scam is not limited to the elderly. Highly educated professionals, students, and even elected representatives have been targeted. Delhi alone recorded around 57 such cases last year, up from 39 in 2024.

Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha in March 2025, Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar said 39,925 cases of digital arrest scams and related cybercrimes were reported on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal in 2022, involving losses of Rs.91.14 crore. By 2024, the reported cases had more than tripled to 1,23,672, while the amount defrauded surged over 21 times to Rs.1,935.51 crore..

Judicial scrutiny

The scale of such frauds has begun to draw judicial scrutiny. In November 2025, the Supreme Court observed that more than Rs.3,000 crore had been siphoned off through “digital arrest” scams, with victims largely from the elderly population. A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has directed the CBI to act as the primary agency investigating digital arrest cases and granted it a “free hand” under the Prevention of Corruption Act in cases (including those against bankers) where mule accounts are used.

Superintendent of Police Dheeraj Kunubilli producing the accused in a “digital arrest” scam at Rayachoti in Annamayya district of Andhra Pradesh in December 2025.
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On December 26, 2025, the Union government constituted a high-level interdepartmental committee, chaired by the Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Ministry of Home Affairs. According to a status report filed before the court, the committee has held multiple meetings and consulted platforms such as Google, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Microsoft, as well as the Department of Telecommunications and the RBI.

Recognising the transnational nature of the frauds, the court also directed the CBI to seek Interpol’s assistance and instructed telecom providers to tighten controls on SIM issuance and SIM box misuse (SIM box is a device that routes Internet calls from countries such as Cambodia through Indian SIM cards). In January 2026, the same bench issued notices to the Union government, the RBI, the CBI, and seven private-sector banks signalling judicial scrutiny of systemic and regulatory failures in preventing such crimes. The notices followed a petition filed by an 82-year-old citizen who was allegedly defrauded of Rs.22.92 crore in what is believed to be the largest individual digital arrest scam reported in the country. The case brought into sharp focus the vulnerability of elderly citizens, the accountability of banks, and the absence of robust preventive safeguards.

Inside ‘digital arrests’

In a typical digital arrest scenario, fraudsters pose as officers of the CBI or the Enforcement Directorate, or as local police. Victims are falsely accused of involvement in serious crimes—ranging from drug trafficking and money laundering to terrorism or illegal online activity—and told that their Aadhaar numbers or bank accounts, or parcels sent by courier have surfaced during criminal investigations.

Once contact is established, victims are placed under fictitious “digital custody” through prolonged video calls, as in the cases cited above. Threats of arrest, seizure of assets, criminal prosecution or public exposure are then used to extract money. The fraudsters replicate bureaucratic procedures in striking detail: fake case numbers, forged warrants, spoofed official phone numbers, uniforms, badges, and increasingly, AI-generated deepfake videos of officials.

However, Triveni Singh, a retired IPS officer and cybercrime expert, said “digital arrests” have declined in recent times largely due to heightened public awareness. The fraud, he said, emerged around two and a half years ago. “There was a period when such cases were being reported almost daily,” he said.

Emphasising that the scams were neither isolated nor localised, Singh described them as part of international social-engineering operations. Scammers study potential victims (interests and activities) on social media to personalise their approach. “The narrative is constantly adapted to the victim,” he said. “For some, it is drug offences, for others allegations of bribery, pornography, or illegal parcels.” Experts say digital arrest scams weaponise fear, and their success hinges on psychological manipulation.

Fear, anxiety, and compliance

Pavan Duggal, a Supreme Court advocate specialising in cyberlaw, explained that the question of “legality” becomes irrelevant once fear is triggered. He said the mere invocation of the police or Central agencies is enough to trigger panic in people conditioned from an early age to fear law enforcement agencies. “Even when people know they have done nothing illegal, they still tend to panic,” he said.

He linked the surge in such frauds to their low-risk, high-reward nature, particularly in the post-COVID period. Fear and anxiety, Duggal argued, had become embedded in everyday life since the pandemic, creating fertile ground for exploitation. The absence of clear legal provisions, he warned, has created a perception among criminals that the crime is low-risk. “We have virtually no convictions in digital arrest cases. That sends a dangerous message: that you can commit these crimes and walk away.”

The cyber psychologist and user-behaviour analyst Nirali Bhatia said authority and isolation together function as the scam’s core psychological tools. Visual cues—uniforms, ID cards—seem to lend credibility to fraudsters’ claims of representing government authorities. Use of personal data (such as the victim’s Aadhaar number) can deepen self-doubt in innocent victims. Isolation intensifies the effect, and emotional pressure builds up through threats of social shaming..

Om Taneja, 81, and his wife, Indira, 77, talking about how they lost Rs.14.85 crore to scammers who put them under “digital arrest”, in Delhi in January 2026.
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PTI

Older individuals, Bhatia said, are particularly vulnerable due to a combination of factors: accumulated savings, lower familiarity with digital systems, deep respect for authority, and a stronger aversion to legal trouble. People in their 40s and 50s, she noted, often have both liquidity and the ability to move money quickly, making them especially attractive to scammers.

Rupesh Mittal, founder of Cyber Jagriti Foundation, said that younger professionals and students are increasingly targeted, though through different psychological triggers. While elderly victims are often threatened with narratives involving their children—particularly those studying or working away from home—younger people are targeted through allegations linked to online gaming, betting, or regulatory violations

“Even digitally savvy people fall prey because fear overrides independent verification. Many instinctively follow the authority figure’s guidance,” Mittal said. With the scamsters armed with information from multiple sources to construct narratives tailored to individual fears, the ploy becomes devastatingly effective.

Limits of investigation

Vinit Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police at Delhi Police’s Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit, said his team primarily handles high-value cyber frauds involving losses above Rs.50 lakh. Investment scams form the bulk of these cases, followed by digital arrest frauds.

Investigating such cases is particularly challenging because of their cross-border nature. Fraudsters frequently operate from outside India, while the money is routed through Indian bank accounts—often mule accounts opened in the name of unsuspecting individuals. Funds are transferred rapidly across multiple accounts, making it difficult to trace and freeze transactions in time..

Even when investigators follow the money trail, identifying perpetrators remains a challenge. “The calls originate from abroad but appear local,” Kumar said. Scammers use SIM boxes, so victims see +91 numbers. “If the number appeared to be an international one, people would be suspicious. But when it appears to be from India and claims to be from agencies like ATS Pune or ATS Mumbai, victims tend to believe it.”

Singh said organised international networks are concentrated along the Thailand–Myanmar–Laos border. Each component—SIM procurement, victim targeting, money withdrawal—often spans multiple States and countries, making investigations slow and resource-intensive.

“These groups operate like corporate entities,” Singh said. “They have fake set-ups resembling CBI offices or police stations and function at scale. That is why even high-profile individuals became victims.”

The geographic dispersion of each element complicates police work. “A SIM card may be procured in West Bengal, the victim could be in Uttar Pradesh, money withdrawn in Maharashtra, while the operators sit across the Myanmar border—or sometimes within India,” Singh explained.

Investigations, he added, still depend heavily on physical verification. “If a SIM is traced to West Bengal, officers must physically travel there. These cases cannot be investigated remotely,” he said, citing constraints such as limited travel funds and the requirement that officers move in teams.

Even when the police reach the source of a SIM or bank account, they often encounter individuals whose identities were misused. “Frequently, it turns out to be an elderly person or someone poor who has no idea their documents were misused,” Singh said. Such individuals are often lured with promises of government schemes or paid small sums to share personal details, leading to SIM cards and bank accounts being opened in their names while they remain unaware.

Authorities have begun disrupting the infrastructure that enables these scams. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre has reported blocking over 1,700 Skype IDs and 59,000 WhatsApp accounts used by fraudsters. In 2024 alone, telecom regulators blocked 6.69 lakh SIM cards and more than 1.32 lakh International Mobile Equipment Identity, or IMEI, numbers linked to suspected cybercrime.

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. A bench led by the CJI has directed the CBI to act as the primary agency investigating digital arrest cases .
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PTI

Systems have also been introduced to detect and block incoming international spoofed calls that falsely display Indian mobile numbers. The Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System, according to government data, has helped prevent losses of over Rs.3,431 crore by enabling faster reporting and intervention..

AI and new risks

Cybercrime investigators say the adoption of AI, increasingly cheaper and more accessible, in digital arrest scams makes detection harder for both victims and investigators. “Cybercriminals have realised that showing their own faces was a bad idea,” Duggal said. “They now rely on deepfakes—using fake profiles or AI-generated faces during video calls. These are so realistic that even police investigations often lead nowhere.”

“Earlier, fraudsters were caught because their Hindi or English was weak or their notices looked fake,” he said. “Now AI can generate legal language, draft court-style notices, and create documents that appear completely official.”

Bhatia said: “As we grow up, we learn how to judge what is safe and whom to trust. AI challenges all of these learned behaviours.”

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Victims are now required to verify authenticity at moments when fear is already overwhelming. Bhatia said not everyone has the “emotional bandwidth or mental presence to do that under pressure”.

Deepfakes and AI-generated communication erode instinctive judgment, she added. “Our ability to distinguish real from fake breaks down under stress. That is why awareness and education are critical.”

Legal gaps

Duggal said the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act fail to adequately cover AI-enabled impersonation and emerging forms of cyber deception. “Today, these offences are loosely fitted into provisions on cheating or forgery,” he said. “Victims are responding to someone who does not actually exist. The law needs a serious relook—otherwise these crimes will continue with no effective remedy.”

Duggal also flagged the role of financial institutions in failing to prevent such frauds. At present, banks typically argue that responsibility lies with the customer because the transaction was authorised. “This approach needs to change,” he said. “The RBI and the Central government can mandate stronger due diligence. For instance, large-value transactions could be delayed by a few hours instead of being processed instantly. That pause alone could prevent many losses.” He also called for broader institutional reform, including explicit legal recognition of AI-driven fraud, creation of dedicated cybercrime courts, and greater investment in capacity-building for law enforcement.

Coping with the aftermath

For many victims of digital arrest scams, the ordeal does not end with financial loss. “Initially, many victims do not report because of shame,” said Bhatia. “They feel devastated and keep asking themselves, ‘How could I do this?’ That guilt becomes a barrier.” She stressed that such frauds are an attack on emotions, and vulnerability to them should not be seen as failure of intelligence.

In a digitally dependent world, the psychological impact can be severe on senior citizens. “There is profound self-doubt. Many feel like a burden on their families, and some develop a complete fear of technology,” Bhatia said. Younger victims experience a different aftermath. “There is hypervigilance and mistrust; every unknown call becomes a trigger.” While younger people are more likely to recover through social support, older victims often underestimate the value of counselling and cope alone, sometimes withdrawing from digital life entirely..

Bhatia argued that prevention must go beyond technical awareness to include emotional preparedness. “Cybercrime operates at three levels: technology, psychology, and money. No individual can manage all three alone,” she said. Families, she added, must be part of prevention strategies, including simple practices such as pausing before acting and validating emotional responses.

“The most effective defence is learning to pause,” she said. “Do not act immediately, especially when you are extremely fearful. Time breaks the trance created by fear and authority.”

Duggal stressed the importance of victims reporting such crimes. Reporting, he said, establishes legal victimhood and can be crucial for financial and tax protection. Victims can contact the National Cybercrime Helpline at 1930 or file a complaint on cybercrime.gov.in.

He warned that without urgent reform, consequences could be systemic. “If these crimes continue at this scale, public confidence in institutions will erode. That would be a much bigger crisis,” he said.