New Delhi:

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), a wing of the Ministry of Home Affairs, has identified and blocked more than 1,700 Skype IDs and 59,000 WhatsApp accounts used for digital fraud, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar also stated that the ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System,’ launched under I4C in 2021, enables immediate reporting of financial frauds to prevent the siphoning off of funds by fraudsters and so far, over Rs 3,431 crore has been saved in more than 9.94 lakh complaints.

“The I4C has pro-actively identified and blocked more than 1,700 Skype IDs and 59,000 WhatsApp accounts used for digital fraud,” Kumar said in response to a written question.

As of November 15, 2024, more than 6.69 lakh SIM cards and 1.32 lakh IMEIs, as reported by police authorities, have been blocked by the government.

The minister further explained that to strengthen the mechanism for addressing cyber crimes, including digital fraud, the central government and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have developed a system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls that display Indian mobile numbers, making them appear as though they originate within India.

Kumar noted that such spoofed calls have been used by cyber criminals in recent cases of fake digital arrests, FedEx scams, and impersonation as government or police officials.

Directions have been issued to TSPs to block such incoming international spoofed calls. Additionally, a State-of-the-Art Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) has been established at I4C, where representatives from major banks, financial institutions, payment aggregators, TSPs, IT intermediaries, and law enforcement agencies from States and UTs collaborate to ensure immediate action and seamless cooperation in tackling cybercrime.

The minister said a suspect registry of identifiers of cyber criminals has been launched by I4C on September 10, 2024 in collaboration with banks and financial institutions and has introduced a new feature ‘Report and Check Suspect’ on the portal cybercrime.gov.in.

This facility provides citizens a search option to search I4C’s repository of identifiers of cyber criminals through ‘suspect search’.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A 90-year-old Gujarat man was duped of over Rs 1 crore by fraudsters posing as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers. The conmen placed the senior citizen under a “digital arrest”, claiming the old man was involved in drug trafficking and money laundering.

According to the Surat Crime Branch, five individuals have been arrested in connection with the scam, which reportedly had ties to an international gang operating out of China.

The mastermind, Parth Gopani, is suspected to be hiding in Cambodia.

What Is Digital Arrest?

“Digital arrests” do not exist under Indian law, clarified Yashasvi Yadav, Special Inspector General of Police for Maharashtra Cyber Department. “Digital arrests are one of the sophisticated scams that even well-educated people, including officers, fall for,” he told NDTV Profit.

The term refers to a type of cyber fraud where scammers impersonate law enforcement officers or government representatives. They pressure victims into paying large sums of money using psychological tactics and threats over audio or video calls.

Cyber law expert and advocate Pawan Duggal explained, “Digital arrest is the phenomenon of trying to put somebody in a sense of fear and panic and thereafter going ahead and extorting money from the said person under some mistaken notion so as to make the said person a victim of a cybercrime.”

How Digital Arrest Scams Work

• Initiating the Call: Victims are informed they are implicated in crimes like drug trafficking or money laundering. Scammers create a sense of fear of severe consequences, such as jail time.
• Fraudsters use props like fake uniforms, ID cards, and documents. They may even mimic government office settings to appear authentic.
• Victims are asked to keep their cameras and microphones on while being warned against disclosing the situation to anyone.
• Under pressure, victims transfer money to accounts provided by the scammers, believing it to be part of the “investigation” process.

How To Stay Safe

If you receive a call claiming you are under digital arrest, here’s what to do:

• Report the number immediately to law enforcement.
• Verify suspicious calls and credentials using official websites rather than search engines, as scammers often upload fake numbers online.
• Remember that legitimate investigations cannot end with payments. Any such demand should raise a red flag.

If you realise you have fallen victim to such a scam:

• Call the financial helpline 1930 within 15-20 minutes to freeze the transfer.
• File a complaint with your local cybercrime cell.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has urged prompt action to counter such scams.

“The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs coordinates activities related to combating cybercrime in the country,” a ministry statement said.

Victims can also visit www.cybercrime.gov.in for assistance.

Ahmedabad:

A 90-year-old man in Gujarat’s Surat lost his entire life savings of over Rs 1 crore to fraudsters, who posed as CBI officers and placed him under ‘digital arrest’ for 15 days, claiming that drugs were found in a parcel that was couriered in his name from Mumbai to China.

According to the Surat Crime Branch, five people have been arrested for the racket that was run in collaboration with a gang in China, but the mastermind is yet to be traced. The main accused, Parth Gopani, is suspected to be in Cambodia.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Bhavesh Rozia said the senior citizen, who traded in the stock market, had received a WhatsApp call from one of the scamsters, who identified himself as a CBI officer. The conmen claimed that 400 grams of MD drugs was found in a parcel that was reportedly couriered in the senior citizen’s name from Mumbai to China.

The accused also claimed that the man’s bank account details revealed he was indulging in money laundering, and threatened to register a case and arrest him and his family.

The DCP said that on the pretext of interrogation, the elderly man was placed under ‘digital arrest’ for 15 days and was asked about transactions carried out through his bank account. Subsequently, the accused transferred Rs 1,15,00,000 from the man’s account.

On learning about the incident, the victim’s family approached the Surat Cyber Cell and filed a complaint on October 29. Police said five people have been arrested but a search is on for mastermind Gopani.

Police have also released a sketch of Gopani, who is suspected to be in Cambodia.

Police said 46 debit cards of various banks, 23 bank cheque books, one vehicle, rubber stamps of four different firms, nine mobile phones and 28 SIM cards were recovered from the arrested men.

Those arrested are Ramesh Surana, Umesh Jinjala, Naresh Surana, Rajesh Deora and Gaurang Rakholiya.

According to cyber law expert and advocate Pawan Duggal, “digital arrest’ is the phenomenon of trying to put somebody in a sense of fear and panic and thereafter, going ahead and extorting money from the said person under some mistaken notion so as to make the said person a victim of a cybercrime.”

There have been several advisories warning people that there is no provision for ‘digital arrest’ or online investigation in Indian law enforcement and yet, several people have fallen prey to such scams, losing crores in the process.

The Centre had recently warned about a widespread cyber scam targeting individuals across the country. It said the scam involved fraudulent letters threatening people with ‘digital arrest’ unless they comply with the scammers’ demands.

Last month during an episode of his radio programme Mann Ki Baat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew attention to ‘digital arrests’ and warned people against such activities. “Beware of digital arrest frauds. There is no system like digital arrest under the law. No government agency will ever contact you via phone or video call for such an investigation,” he said.

Mumbai:

A 77-year-old woman from Mumbai was kept under “digital arrest” for a month by cyber fraudsters who posed as law enforcement officials and made her transfer Rs 3.8 crore, claiming her Aadhaar card was used in a money laundering case.

The woman’s ordeal began a month ago when an unknown man made a WhatsApp call and told the victim that a parcel sent by her to Taiwan contained MDMA drugs, five passports, a bank card, and clothes.

When the homemaker, who lives with her retired husband in south Mumbai, told the caller that she didn’t send any parcel, the person said details of her Aadhaar card were used in the crime, a police official said on Wednesday.

The caller then connected the woman to a “Mumbai Police officer” who told her that her Aadhaar card was linked to a money laundering case under investigation.

“The caller asked the woman to download the Skype app and told her that police officers would talk to her. She was ordered not to disconnect the call and disclose the matter,” the official said.

Later, a man who identified himself as an IPS officer sought details of her bank accounts. Another man, claiming to be an IPS officer from the finance department, asked the woman to transfer money to bank accounts provided by them.

“They told her that the money would be returned if no illegality is found,” the official said.

The accused returned the Rs 15 lakh transferred by the woman, apparently to gain her trust.

“They subsequently asked the woman to send all her money from the joint bank accounts of her husband. She ended up transferring Rs 3.8 crore in several transactions to six bank accounts,” the official said.

The complainant suspected something was amiss when she didn’t get her money back even as the accused kept demanding more funds in the name of taxes to release the money she had transferred to them.

“The woman called up her daughter who lives abroad. Her daughter told her she was being conned and asked her to approach police,” the official said.

The woman subsequently dialled the cyber helpline number 1930, following which investigators froze the six bank accounts where the money was transferred, he said, adding that the crime branch was probing the case.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ahmedabad:

A builder in Ahmedabad lost Rs 1 crore after he fell prey to a ‘digital arrest’ scam in which some people posing to be from the police and the Narcotics Control Bureau told him that 550 grams of a drug was found in a parcel in his name. 

Police officials said the fraudsters appeared to have been keeping tabs on the builder and also cited a Rs 50-crore land deal concluded by him to gain his confidence.

On July 3, the builder got a call from a man who claimed to be a representative of a popular international courier company. The man told the builder that 550 grams of the drug MD were recovered from a parcel in his name and said he was transferring the call to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which had registered a case against him.

In his police complaint, filed recently, the builder said he then got a video call from a man wearing a police uniform, who claimed to be an NCB officer and asked him to record a statement online. The ‘officer’ also pointed to alleged suspicious transactions in the builder’s bank accounts and threatened that agencies like the police, CBI, Enforcement Directorate and NCB would investigate him.

Officials said that, after sufficiently scaring the builder, the man convinced him to transfer Rs 1 crore, returnable in 10 days, to avoid being prosecuted. The scammer also spoke about a recent Rs 50-crore land deal in which the builder was involved to make him believe that he was speaking to someone in law enforcement. 

The scammers made no contact with the builder after that and, when his attempts to reach them failed, he realised that he had been conned. He approached the Ahmedabad cyber crime cell recently, over four months later, to file a complaint. 

(With inputs from Mahendra Prasad)

Aligarh:

A retired Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) professor was allegedly duped of more than Rs 75 lakhs by fraudsters posing as Enforcement Directorate (ED) and putting her under ‘digital arrest’ for 10 days, police said on Sunday.

An FIR was lodged on Friday by Qamar Jahan and the police immediately issued an alert to the concerned banks. Police found that the money had been routed through 21 different bank accounts, they said.

Transactions worth Rs 13 lakh were blocked due to police intervention, they said.

Cyber police station inspector VD Panday, who is investigating the case told PTI that the victim was kept under “digital arrest for more than 10 days” during which the accused pressured Jahan to pay money to avoid arrest.

‘Digital arrest’ is a new cyber fraud, where the accused poses as law enforcement agency officials, like CBI or customs officials or ED, and threatens people of arrest by making video calls in the name of fake international parcels of banned drugs or money laundering cases.

The complainant told the police that she received the first call on September 28. The accused posed an Enforcement Directorate official and told her that she had conducted some dubious transactions, involving her in a money laundering case.

To avoid arrest, Jahan must deposit some money to the Court, the accused told the victim. He gave her some bank account numbers and the victim complied with the demands and deposited more than Rs 75 lakh.

However, two days ago she sensed that she had been duped and filed a complaint at the police station, they said.

During the past few weeks, several cases of digital arrest have been reported in the state. The police have issued advisories to the public stating that there is no provision for digital arrest.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The CBI, police, customs, Enforcement Directorate or judges do not arrest people through video calls, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) said in a public advisory issued in view of the rising cases of ‘digital arrest’ crimes in the country.

Terming it a scam, the federal cyber security agency cautioned people against falling victim to such crimes committed using the Internet.

“Don’t Panic, Stay Alert. CBI/Police/Custom/ED/Judges DO NOT arrest you on video call,” stated the advisory issued on Saturday.

The advisory depicted the logos of social media platforms like WhatsApp and Skype to showcase that calls for such scams are made using such platforms.

These social media platforms have said in the past that they are coordinating with cyber security agencies of the government to provide users enhanced safety against such crimes.

The I4C urged people to report such crimes at the central helpline number 1930 or the website — www.cybercrime.gov.in.

Digital arrest is the name given to a cyber crime technique where fraudsters send an SMS or make video calls to a person posing as law enforcement agency officials fraudulently claiming that the individual or his close family members have been caught by a government investigative agency in a criminal activity like drugs trafficking or money laundering.

The cybercriminal subsequently confines the person to their premises by asking them to keep their mobile phone cameras on as part of a ‘digital arrest’ and then seek money through online transfer to bail the victim out of this situation.

A good number of these new-age cyber crimes are virtually reported every day from various parts of the country. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Centre has introduced a new system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls before they can reach Indian telecom subscribers. 

This comes amid a spate of incidents where users were “digitally arrested”, and threatened with mobile disconnection, cybercriminals even impersonation of government officials or law enforcement agencies, including false accusations involving drugs, narcotics, and sex rackets. Recently, Vardhaman Group head was cheated of Rs 7 crore. 

How Does The System Work

The system has been deployed in two phases – First, at the Telecom Service Provider (TSP) level, to prevent calls spoofed with phone numbers of their subscribers. Second, at a central level, to stop calls spoofed with the number of subscribers from other TSPs. 

The Centre said all four TSPs have successfully implemented the system.

The Centre said around 4.5 million spoofed calls are being stopped from entering the Indian telecom network. The next phase, involving a centralized system which will eliminate the remaining spoofed calls across all TSPs, is expected to be commissioned soon.

Recently, a fraudster impersonating Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, a fake virtual courtroom and documents closely resembling original ones were part of the elaborate plan through which Vardhman Group head SP Oswal was duped of Rs 7 crore.

Mr Oswal, chairman and managing director of the textile manufacturer, was put under “digital arrest” on August 28 and 29 and made to transfer Rs 7 crore into multiple accounts. Police have managed to freeze these accounts and recover over Rs 5 crore so far.

Read more: A Call, Digital Arrest, Rs 7 Crore Transferred: How Vardhman Boss Was Duped

One of the key techniques used by every scammer in a ‘digital arrest’ is surveillance and victims are asked to stay on a video call over Skype, Zoom or any such platform on their laptop and switch to a video call on their phone even if they move to another room. 

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, several victims have lost large amounts of money to scammers carrying out ‘digital arrests’.

Experts say the fear psychosis that scamsters create in the minds of their victims, makes them believe that whatever they are being told is real and they are indeed under investigation for serious crimes, with the potential of being locked up for an extended period if they don’t comply. 

Read more: Surveillance, Fear: How People Are Losing Crores To ‘Digital Arrest’ Scams

Next Course Of Action

Cybercriminals have devised new ways to scam people, trying to bypass technological safety measures deployed by the Centre to protect users. The Telecom department has urged people to report such crimes which would help the department to devise new strategies to counter cyber fraud.

The Centre has provided the Chakshu portal to report such calls on the ‘Sanchar Saathi’ platform. 

The Chakshu facility is a step towards safeguarding users from cyber fraud. It provides a streamlined process for reporting suspicious activities and helps in the early detection and prevention of potential fraud.

The telecom department is using AI tools to identify the mobile connections taken on forged documents or taken exceeding the prescribed limits for an individual. Such mobile connections along with telecom resources and mobile handsets used in fraudulent activities are being weeded out from the telecom ecosystem.