There has been a sharp increase in “digital arrest” scams in India. As per data from the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, the reported digital arrest scams and related cybercrimes have more than tripled, rising from 39,925 in 2022 to 1.23 lakh in 2024, with the defrauded amount growing from Rs 91.14 crore to Rs 1,935 crore. Such scams tend to involve fraudsters impersonating law enforcement officials such as the police, the CBI and the Income Tax Department in order to dupe people. The victims, who are from a cross-section of society, including industrialists, private sector professionals, and senior citizens, are ensnared through fake interrogations on video calls. An investigation in this paper has carefully documented several instances where people have been duped of lakhs and crores of rupees.
The reports in this paper show how money is transferred from the victims to mule accounts that are used by scammers, and then in some cases to other accounts across the country. In one instance, a staggering sum of nearly Rs 6 crore was transferred over many bank accounts in a matter of a few minutes. In another case, there are indications of the stolen funds being used to buy cryptocurrency. Recoveries have been few and far between. In most cases, the bulk of the amount is withdrawn in cash from the mule accounts. In one case reported in this paper, a retired IAF veteran, who was defrauded of Rs 1.59 crore, has till now got back only Rs 16.1 lakh. In another case, the victim, a former deputy nursing superintendent, who had lost Rs 83 lakh of her pension and savings, has not recovered anything.
