‘Every hour of every day’: Rajasthan High Court issues directives to Centre, Reserve Bank of India for ‘insidious’ digital scams

The Rajasthan High Court said that surge in digital scam cases underscores a troubling trend, with individuals from all walks of life increasingly being targeted. (Image enhanced using AI)

Key Observations

• This court feels pain to observe that in the age of rapid change in technology and digital evolution, digital scams have emerged as one of the most insidious forms of cyber crimes.
• Digital scams pose a significant threat to our interconnected world, hence, there is a necessity for a multi-faceted approach to combat them effectively.
• Different countries have adopted legislation, public awareness campaigns, technological innovations and collaborative initiatives to mitigate the risk associated with these scams.
• While challenges remain, ongoing efforts and commitments at local, national and international levels signify a promising trajectory towards reducing the prevalence and impact of digital arrest scams.
• The shared experiences and strategies from various nations serve as crucial learning points in this ongoing battle against cyber crime.
• Ultimately, empowering individuals with the knowledge and tools to resist such scams will be of paramount importance in this fight.
• Over the past few years, there has been a noticeable rise in cyber crimes and frauds globally, with India witnessing thousands of innocent people falling victim to such scams.
• Many have lost substantial amounts of their hard-earned money to frauds carried out via the internet.
• The surge in digital scam cases underscores a troubling trend, with individuals from all walks of life increasingly being targeted.
• In the age of rapid digital evolution, digital scams have emerged as one of the most insidious forms of cyber crimes.
• As online banking services have grown in popularity, the incidents of online banking fraud have also surged.
• Among the most widespread cyber crimes are phishing scams targeting bank customers.
• Cyber criminals steal login credentials to access bank accounts and harvest credit and debit card information for financial gain, leading to the victims suffering from significant financial losses.
• The highly digitised nature of modern banking provides attackers with numerous opportunities to commit these crimes.
• Although banks continue to implement advanced measures to secure and protect their digital services and protect customer accounts, the increasing sophistication of these attacks makes it more difficult to detect when such frauds are occurring.
• The process of registration of cyber fraud complaints should be simple, not complicated, so that the complaint can be lodged immediately and all efforts be made by all the stakeholders to save the money of such cyber fraud victims.
• Though several steps have been taken at the various levels of the government but in order to curb the current and dangerous situation, further more serious steps are required to be taken by all the stakeholders.
• Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (for short ‘Rules of 2021’) have been enacted by the government to control the activities on social media platforms, over the top platforms and digital news portals.
• These Rules aim to track down the source of damaging information.
• It has been found that data is being sold by some of the social media companies and the same is being misused by the accused involved in committing such cyber crimes against the innocent public at large.
• Our country’s growing technological progress and increased penetration are reflected in the rise of cyber crime in the nation.
• Let strict action be taken against all those delinquents, including companies, who are selling the data of individuals which is misused by the accused persons by different means to commit cyber crimes.
• Let a strong mechanism be prepared to save the innocent persons from losing their hard earned money.
• Send a copy of this order to the union ministry and department of finance as well as the state government, the ministry of home affairs of the Centre as well as the state government.
• Send a copy to the director general of police and the Reserve Bank of India for making necessary compliance and to take more suitable measures to protect customers and innocent persons and their hard-earned money.
• Also Read | What are ‘digital arrest’ scams? Why do many Indians fall for them?

Background

• The observations came in the backdrop of a case involving multiple cyber fraud complaints linked to several bank accounts.
• According to the prosecution, between February 2024 and August 2025, unusually large sums of money were allegedly routed through these accounts, triggering complaints from victims who claimed they were duped through online scams.
• The investigating agencies told the court that the transactions ran into lakhs and crores of rupees and formed part of an organised cyber fraud syndicate.
• The accused, currently lodged in Central Jail, Alwar, had sought bail after completion of investigation and filing of the chargesheet.
• Advocates Rajpal Yogi, Hemant Agarwal, Manish Gupta, Shewta Soni, appearing for the accused argued that the accused had no prior criminal record.
• The counsel said that their accounts were allegedly misused by others, and prolonged incarceration was unjustified as the offences were triable by a magistrate.

Decision

• Rejecting these arguments, the high court made it clear that the bail stage was not meant for a detailed appreciation of evidence.
• It said claims of innocence or misuse of bank accounts could only be examined during trial.
• The court noted that the case diary and charge-sheet showed a sudden and unexplained spike in high-value transactions during the relevant period, coinciding with a series of cyber complaints.
• Given the gravity of allegations and the organised manner in which the frauds appeared to have been executed, the court found no reason to grant bail.
• “There is no material change in the facts and circumstances of the case, the court said.
• It added that releasing the accused at this stage would be inappropriate considering the scale of the alleged frauds and the larger public interest involved.