IIM Bombay Student Duped In 'Digital Arrest' Scam; Loses ₹7 lakh

An IIT Bombay student got tricked by a scammer, who posed as a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) employee and lost Rs 7.29 lakh. The fraudster threatened the student with ‘digital arrest’ and coerced him to pay money.

As per the reports, the 25-year-old student received a call from an unknown number in July and the caller identified himself as a TRAI employee. The caller informed the student that nearly 17 complaints of illegal activities had been found against his mobile number. The caller asked the victim to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the police to sustain his mobile services. Then he told the victim about the call transfer to the Cyber Crime Branch.

Read also: Citizens Lost Around Rs 11,333 Crore To Cyber Frauds In 2024

Next, via a WhatsApp video call, a man dressed in a police uniform demanded the victim’s Aadhar number and charged him with money laundering. The deceptive police official then asked the student to transfer Rs 29,500 via the UPI.

The victim further told being placed under digital arrest and said to be prohibited from contacting anyone. The scammer called him the next day and demanded more money. The student shared his bank account details which enabled the fraudsters to siphon off Rs 7 lakh from his account.

After receiving money the scammer told students that he was safe and would not face arrest, the police said. Realizing he had been duped the student approached police and complained to the unidentified accused.

What is Digital Arrest?

A digital arrest is a new form of cyber fraud in which the scammer is portrayed as a law enforcement official or government personnel and intimidates victims through audio or video calls.

Read also: E-Challan Scams Resurface: Here’s How To Identify Fake Links

Reportedly, the government has taken stern measures to prevent the digital arrest scam by blocking over 6.69 lakh SIM cards and over 1,32,000 international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) numbers.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has also set up the ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ (I4C) to handle all types of cyber crimes in the country. Also, the ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ was launched in 2021 for the immediate reporting of financial fraud.

Also, the ‘Report and Check Suspect’ platform allows citizens to search I4C’s repository of identifiers of cybercriminals.