
The internet and cyberspace is rife with digital swindles. From online dating scams to pig butchering scams to cryptocurrency scams, there are many at play lately. These scams involve an element of “social engineering,” a phrase for tactics used to dupe a victim into making poor decisions such as trusting someone they should not, and sending them money.
So far in 2024, Indians have reported being cheated of Rs 19,888.42 crore after falling for various types of cyber frauds, up from Rs 921.59 crore in 2023. Authorities have fielded around 14.41 lakh calls this year to the national cybercrime helpline number (1930), according to the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), a government body under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
However, there’s one type of scam that is currently everywhere in India: Digital arrest scams. Over the past eleven months, an estimated 92,323 cases of digital arrest scams have been recorded with victims in India losing a total of Rs 2,140.99 crore, as per I4C. It is important to note that these numbers are likely under-counted as scam victims often do not report incidents due to lack of awareness and out of fear of embarrassment.
Let’s take a closer look at how digital arrest scams work, who is behind them, why it is easy to fall for them, and what you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones from being swindled in this way.
What is digital arrest scam? How has it evolved?
The surge in cyber frauds can be traced back to the COVID-19 pandemic which pushed a significant portion of the world online. However, digital arrest scams took off in India early 2023 as a variant of courier scams where a scammer posing as an executive of a courier service such as FedEx would tell the target that a package under their name is stuck at the airport because it contains something illegal.
They would connect them to a fake customs or cyber cell official. The target would then be asked to transfer money to a so-called RBI-stipulated, surveillance bank account in order to avoid arrest, with the smart twist that the amount would be returned to them once the target’s identity has been verified.
Digital arrest scammers follow a similar script. They make phone or video calls to targets while posing as officials from law enforcement agencies or regulatory bodies such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). At times, scammers have also impersonated judges and staged court hearings as part of the process.
The fraudsters proceed to extort money from the target by creating an atmosphere of fear with threats of surveillance, arrest, and being sent to jail.
“They exploit your inner, darker side where you think that you have done something wrong like sending a letter stating that you have seen pornography,” said Dr Rakshit Tandon, a cybersecurity expert who works as a consultant with law enforcement agencies in India.
How do victims get sucked into the scam and end up losing money?
Fraudsters are able to pull off digital arrest scams by doing their research on prospective victims. In some cases, they might also be able to get a hold of the victim’s personal information such as their online shopping orders which could originate from breached datasets sold on the dark web.
Telling the victim of their previous online purchases, for instance, makes the scammers seem more convincing. It leads the victim to think that only a law enforcement or government agency is capable of knowing all these details, Tandon said.
Victims have recalled fraudsters telling them to download Skype in order to set up a video call. On the call, the scammers appear in official-looking police uniforms. Letters and IDs bearing official logos are a few other props used by scammers to make themselves appear legitimate.
They often impersonate high-ranking officials to make the situation seem more serious. Another way they bait victims is by telling them that they have been implicated in high-profile cases that have been in the news such as the money laundering probe against Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal.
Of late, digital arrest scams have gone high-tech with the use of generative AI tools to clone the voices of a victim’s family member and make it seem like they are in distress.
Tandon further opines that the over-explosion of online information and excessive use of digital technology has affected our cognitive thinking, leading to people getting easily scared or intimidated.