Author: Unnati Jain, Lloyd Law College
To the point
The world today is facing numerous digital challenges and scams of different types, one of the most prominent scam nowadays is of digital arrest. The fraudulent people role play government officials and threaten the public. One of the most famous case of this scam came forward in 2024-25 when the scammers attacked an eighty-six (86) year old female and scammed out her life’s savings, I will be discussing the said case in detail with all the aspects related to these digital arrest scams happening throughout and especially in India.
Abstract
Our world as we say today is globally connected as one village, known to us as ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. This signifies the globalization era with that the current advancements in digital world known as digitalization. With growing digitalization practices in world we saw significant and sophisticated developments in cyber scams as well! But, with negative comes positive or vice versa so, with development of scams there is development in software and awareness to catch these scammers and not get influenced at the same time into their traps. Though, this is not the case with most of the elderly people in India as the majority of them don’t have any understanding of such actions which makes them easy targets of the scammers. This article revolves around the Mumbai digital arrest case of 2024-25 where, an eighty-six (86) year old lady was targeted and robbed for 3 months regularly and it will discuss all about digital arrest scams happening in modern time.
Introduction
The digital arrest case of 2024-25 where an elderly woman of eighty-six (86) years old was targeted by the scammers and was robbed for 3 months straight i.e. December 2024 to march 2025. The term ‘digital arrest’ signifies that when a scammer reaches out to people and impersonate like any authoritative figure of government without proper authorization and influences the people into the set trap where they are supposed to stay within the 4 walls of their house thus, creating a sense of psychological house arrest. Here, a psychological game is played by the scammers to drain the victim completely of their resources. The case that I will be discussing is when a group of scammers scammed an elderly woman in Mumbai for 20 crore rupees in 3 months by portraying as a Central Bureau for Investigation (CBI) official. The government has taken significant steps to spread awareness regarding cyber frauds through campaigns, seminars, caller tunes, etc.
The Mumbai case
The Mumbai case is the longest scam case yet and a chilling example of how in modern times these scammers are targeting elderly people as in this case an 86-year-old women was scammed for 20 crore rupees over a period of 3 months i.e. from December 26, 2023 to march 3, 2024. In this case the victim received a call from the fraudulent people where an individual posed as a CBI official and said that the Aadhar number of the victim was linked to an account which was used for money laundering and other illegal activities. This made a panicked situation in the victim’s mind and was threatened by the scammer imitating a police official that she with her family will be facing legal charges.
The scammer noticed the panic on the victim’s face, this was the first step towards the success of their plan so, he presented her with a “solution” to the problem. The solution provided by them signified that she has to transfer the money into multiple bank accounts and she transferred the money as directed into different accounts by the official believing she is co-operating with the authorities. Under this act, she transferred over 20 crore rupees into multiple fraudulent accounts. Throughout the scam the scammers instructed her to remain in digital arrest under which she was not allowed to step outside the home or to talk to anyone with that she was also instructed to stay on call continuously. All of this included fake video call with the accused dressed up as a government official and sophisticated psychological tactics to make the victim believe that all of this is real and she is being helped by the government.
Commencement of these scam
The first step for the commencement of the scam involves a call from the scammer depicting like a government official who then claims that the victim is involved in some criminal activity or some government document has been used against the will of the victim for some illegal activity. They then instruct the victim to either face the legal criminal charges or to digitally co-operate with them. Then, due to panic and threat of being imprisoned when people accepts to co-operate with them, the scammers then ask the victim to isolate themselves in a room or house and to not disconnect the call at any cost so that they can control you psychologically throughout. After all this, the scammer drains the victim financially by making them transfer the money into the account of scammer and by making them believe that their own account is used for fraudulent activities.
Public due to lack of awareness and presence of mind fall for these tactics as they believe that a government official will connect with them digitally if their account is used for some illegal activities. When the scammers drain the victim completely they disconnect the call, erase the clues and vanish as if never existed. All of this happens so rapidly that the victim is left dumbstruck.
Arrest of the accused of Mumbai Case
In the Mumbai case, the tension faced by the elderly woman was noticed by the house-help who then informed her daughter regarding the strange behavior of the women, she after inquiring about the cause filed a police complaint in local police station. The cyber police officials caught 3 accused and according to the statement passed by them there are more accused who were involved in this case and will be held soon. The 3 accused held were Shayan Jamil Sheikh (20 years), Razique Azan Butt (20 years) and Hritik Shekhar Thakur (25 years). Apart from these, 2 more accused were recognized and a notice has been issued for their arrest under Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). Also, the cyber police suspected that Mr. Butt is a part of an international racket of fraudulent people.
The Legal Jargon
The cyber laws were not initially a part of our constitutional laws but with the growing globalization and digitalization the government of India has come up with some certain kind of cyber laws. The fundamental rights have been interpreted to cater the needs of modern times like article 21 which talks about protection to right to life and liberty, also includes right to privacy under its ambit. There are different acts and rules that have been developed to regulate the cyber world within the Indian territory.
The Information Technology Act, 2000
Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2024
Bhartiya Nayay Sanhita, 2024
Bhartiya Sakshay Adhinium, 2024
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, 1997
These are some of the rules and regulations that are applicable if someone is held for digital arrest scam.
Preventive measures for digital arrest scam
If any cyber-crime took place with you there are some preventive measures that are suggested and to be taken to avoid the fraud from taking place. The first and foremost step to avoid any cyber fraud from occurring is that instead of being panicked that most of us feel when we receive any call stating any false information which involves illegal activity, one should always verify the source and the information provided if real or not by authenticated sources. We must remain aware and cautious of such scams nowadays as they are rapidly increasing day by day. Also, one must not share any personal information with these people and especially no OTP’s that are send on our phones, even one must not entertain any link that we receive from unauthorized sources.
If ever any scam involving digital arrest is happening then, the scammers will ask you to not leave the house or room and to not disconnect the call, all of this is because they want to keep you under surveillance and drain your financial support completely so, under such situation one must always disconnect the call and verify the information provided if true or not. All the people especially the youth who are aware of such scams must spread awareness among everyone and especially the elderly as they are the prime targets of such fraudulent people. There are specialized apps which can be used to identify such scam calls and messages like trucaller. If one notices any unusual activity in their account, then they must immediately contact the concerned bank authorities and freeze the account or block the suspicious account to which the money has been transacted. Other measures like, one must not share their bank account password and other confidential bank details, personal information of any kind from self to family must not be shared to any outsider, back-up option must always be intact if there is any kind of unwanted activity that is taking place, etc.
Conclusion
The digital arrest scam is more of a psychological scam where the scammers make the victim believe that some kind of illegal activity is associated with them and they will be held responsible for it even if they are not a part of that illegal activity. The scammers then manipulate the victim extort the money and all the information they need with tha vague promise of helping them resolve an issue which in reality never existed. All of this can be observed in the Mumbai case where the scammers molded the situation in a way where the women believed that her Aadhar number has been wrongly used to start an account which is used of illegal purposes like money laundering. In such situations it has been suggested by the government that the first step one must take is to verify the information from an authentic source rather than believing any random personal. And, to never share any confidential information with anyone. There are different laws formed to govern such situations and government is spreading awareness through different means in order to promote security to people who face such situations.
FAQ’s
Ques 1. What is digital arrest scam?
Ans 1. A digital arrest scam is when a scammer reaches out to people and impersonate like any authoritative figure of government without proper authorization and influences the people into the set trap where they are supposed to stay within the 4 walls of their house thus, creating a sense of psychological house arrest.
Ques 2. How does this scam work?
Ans 2. The scammer calls you and manipulates you into their trap and play psychologically in order to captivate you digitally only to extort your money.
