IIT Bombay student duped of over Rs 7 lakh by scammers after digital arrest

A 25-year-old student from IIT Bombay was duped of Rs 7.29 lakh after he was digitally arrested by scammers who posed as government officials, according to the Mumbai Police. This incident comes amid an escalation in the number of digital arrest cases nationwide.
The unidentified student received the call from an unknown number in July.
The caller, who claimed to be an official from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), told the student that 17 complaints of illegal activities were registered against his mobile number.
The scamster further said that in order to avoid the deactivation of his number, the student had to obtain a no objection certificate (NOC) from the police, and told him that he was transferring the call to the Cyber Crime Branch, the police added.
According to an official from Mumbai Police, the student then received a video call on WhatsApp, during which he spoke to a man dressed as a police officer.
The fake cop demanded the student’s Aadhaar card number and alleged that he was involved in money laundering, forcing the latter to transfer Rs 29,500 via UPI.
The scamster then threatened the student and claimed he was placed under digital arrest and prevented him from contacting anyone.
The scamsters called him the next day and managed to siphon off Rs 7 lakh from his account after he was forced to share details of his bank account.
The student realised that he had been duped only after reading about similar digital arrest scams on the internet after which he informed the police.
WHAT IS DIGITAL ARREST
Digital arrest is a new method of cyber fraud in which fraudsters pose as law enforcement officers and threaten people on audio or video calls and hold them hostage digitally on the false pretext of arrest.
Earlier this week, the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) shared a list that talks about more than a dozen ways in which online scams are being perpetrated by fraudsters in the country, including “digital arrest” to dupe people by stealing their money and private data.
In October, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs formed a high-level committee to investigate and take immediate action against perpetrators of digital arrest scam, which targets unsuspecting individuals by falsely implicating them in drug and money laundering cases.
Over 6,000 digital arrest complaints have been registered so far this year, with the Ministry’s Cyber Wing blocking 6 lakh mobile numbers in connection to the racket.