‘Digital Arrest’ Scams Drain ₹54,000 Cr

• Supreme Court says ₹54,000 crore lost to digital arrest scams since 2021
• Elderly victims targeted through fake officials and video interrogations
• Court directs nationwide SOP, telecom rules, and cyber complaint portal
• Experts call for AI tools, legal reforms, and public awareness

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 13th Feb: The Supreme Court has flagged the alarming rise of so-called “digital arrest” scams, noting that more than ₹54,000 crore has been siphoned off through such cyber frauds between April 2021 and November 2025.

Describing the phenomenon as “robbery and dacoity,” the top court directed a series of nationwide measures to curb the growing menace, including implementation of a standard operating procedure, tighter telecom rules, and a dedicated cyber complaint portal.

The warning comes amid a series of high-profile cases in which elderly citizens were duped through elaborate video calls by fraudsters posing as law-enforcement or government officials.

In one recent case, a 74-year-old retired doctor lost nearly ₹4.2 crore after being told during a video call that her Aadhaar number had been misused and a ₹6-crore money-laundering case had been registered against her. Under psychological pressure and threats of arrest, she transferred her life savings.

In another widely reported incident, industrialist S.P. Oswal was allegedly kept in a staged “digital arrest” for two days, during which fraudsters posed as investigators and even simulated a Supreme Court hearing. He eventually transferred nearly ₹7 crore to accounts he believed were official.

Cybersecurity experts say the scam is essentially a psychological operation that exploits citizens’ lack of awareness about criminal procedures. Fraudsters typically use mule accounts, offshore transfers, and cryptocurrency to quickly move funds, making recovery difficult.

Victims often have little evidence because scammers force them to delete call logs and recordings. Many such operations are run by organised cybercrime syndicates based in Southeast Asia, where cross-border legal action is slow.

The Supreme Court recently took suo motu cognisance of the issue after an elderly couple from Ambala lost over ₹1 crore to fraudsters posing as CBI and Enforcement Directorate officials.

The court has directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to adopt the Reserve Bank of India’s standard operating procedure for cyber frauds nationwide and to create a unified coordination framework for faster freezing and recovery of funds.

It also ordered the Department of Telecommunications to notify the Telecommunication (User Identification) Rules, 2025 within three weeks, and asked the Ministry of Electronics and IT to operationalise a dedicated cyber complaints portal within four weeks.

Further, the court directed preparation of a memorandum of understanding to enable structured information-sharing among banks, telecom firms, enforcement agencies, and digital platforms.

During the hearings, the court questioned banks over their failure to flag suspicious high-value transactions, especially from accounts of senior citizens.

Experts have called for AI-based fraud detection systems, mandatory digital authentication of legal notices, transaction cooling-off periods, and the creation of specialised cyber courts to tackle the growing threat.