Close on the heels of a report that a Mumbai businessman, 72, was conned out of a staggering sum of INR 58 crore (USD 6.6 million) in yet another instance of the “digital arrest” scam, the Supreme Court of India has sought a government response on this form of fraud that is claiming victims across the country.
According to a PTI report, the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday took serious note of the digital arrest of a senior citizen couple in Ambala, Haryana. The fraudsters extorted Rs 1.05 crore (USD 119,280) from the victims, threatening them with forged court orders and fake probe agency documents.
“Digital arrest” refers to scammers posing as officials from some law enforcement-related institution or the other — anything from police to courts — and telling people through online communication that they are “under arrest” for some (imaginary) violation of the law.
The victims are usually told to stay put at home and not go anywhere without the (impostor) officials’ permission. The scammers inevitably force the victims to transfer their money under some pretext.
In most of the cases reported around India, the victims of the digital arrest scam are senior citizens, who cannot always tell fake documents apart from real ones during online communication.
They are also usually more worried than a younger person about the reputational damage they might suffer because of the (fake) accusations. Therefore, they tend to comply with the demands of the (fake) officials.
In the case of the Mumbai businessman, the fraudsters posed as officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), two of the top crime-fighting government agencies in India.
Giving an overview of the problem in India, a Hindustan Times report this week said that “government data put the collective toll at INR 2,580 crore (USD 293 million) since 2022”. The report said that the figure was based on “242,000 known cases” but that the scale of the problem could be much bigger, since all the victims might not be going to the police.
In this nationwide context, an SC bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi flagged the rising number of digital arrest cases, said PTI. The judges sought a response from the Government of India and the CBI in a case registered as suo motu, after one of the two recent Haryana victims — the wife, aged 73 — wrote to Chief Justice of India BR Gavai.
“The fabrication of judicial orders bearing forged signatures of judges strikes at the very foundation of the public trust in the judicial system, besides the rule of law. Such action constituted [a] direct assault on the dignity of the institution,” said the apex court.
The judges also referred to media reports on digital arrest scams coming to light every other day in India. “We are also inclined to take judicial notice of the fact that the instance case is not the sole instance. It has been largely reported many times in the media that such crimes have taken place in different parts of the country,” said the bench.
“We are, therefore, of the view that action and coordinated efforts between the central and state police are required to unearth the full extent of the criminal enterprise involving forging judicial documents, [and] extortion/robbery of innocent people, most importantly the senior citizens,” the judges added.
Recent “digital arrest” cases in India
Other than the Haryana couple scammed by forged court orders, thereby triggering the Supreme Court, there has been a spate of “digital arrest” cases in recent months and years. In some of these cases, police have been able to make actual arrests of the suspects.
For instance, a total of seven people, including money mules, have been arrested by the Maharashtra Nodal Cyber Police in the INR 58 crore “digital arrest” scam. Money mules are people complicit in cybercrimes, allowing their bank accounts to be used for moving stolen funds.
Some of the other recent cases are as follows:
● October 2025: Bengaluru cybercrime training centre targets Americans
Police in Bengaluru said that scammers had targeted American citizens through the “digital arrest” tactic. This was a unique case, since the racket was so extensive that a full-fledged training centre had been set up for cyber-criminals. The police arrested 16 people, after busting a fake Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company on October 7.
The BPO operation was a front for cybercrimes, and a large bunch of young people were recruited. Their “employment” was just a disguise for training in committing cybercrime.
During investigation, the police found that these recruits first received tele-caller training, and then were taught the nitty-gritty of how American agencies — US Border Security Force, US Postal Services, and US Customs and Border Protection Force — functioned. Armed with this knowledge, they would impersonate officials and pick their victims after trawling for personal information from various online sources, including social media.
As with all “digital arrest” cases, these American targets (soon to be victims) would be told that (fake) cases had been registered against them, and grave offences involving narcotics and money-laundering would be cited.
“Using live servers provided by the company, they called people (mostly Americans), intimidated them by saying they were involved in drugs trafficking or money laundering cases, showed them fake arrest warrants and fake police IDs, and demanded money for their ‘release’. This is called the digital arrest scam,” said Bengaluru Police, as quoted by the media.
● October 2025: Kolkata octogenarian threatened with jail term by CBI impostors
Kolkata Police said that an 88-year-old resident of the city was scammed out of INR 33 lakh (USD 37,488) after being cornered by criminals posing as CBI officers and threatening the victim with imprisonment. It was the height of irony that the fraudsters accused the victim of being named in “multiple fraud cases awaiting resolution”, as The Telegraph put it. The cybercrime incident took place earlier this year, and the police complaint was filed in June.
The victim was told by the CBI impostors that several cases had been registered against him and that he must pay up to have those cases dropped. The victim was put under “digital arrest” for a day and the threats continued until he transferred the whole amount. Following his complaint, the police were able to recover about INR 8 lakh.
● August-September 2025: Retired banker in Delhi loses INR 23 crore over one month of digital arrest
Between August and September this year, a retired 78-year-old bank officer in Delhi was put under “digital arrest” by criminals impersonating officers of Mumbai Police, ED, and CBI. The ordeal went on for a month, during which time, the victim was told to remain under “surveillance” and to be available for video calls every two hours.
The victim was accused of having links to terrorism, which is a very serious charge under Indian law. He was made to sign an “undertaking” by the fraudsters to maintain secrecy — this was a ploy to prevent the victim from consulting any friends or family members.
To make the scam look authentic, the criminals sent the victim a fake bail order. He was threatened with loss of passport and harm to his family. Once the criminals forced him to divulge his banking and investment details, they began withdrawing money from his accounts — over a month, a huge sum of INR 23 crore (USD 2.6 million) was stolen by the scammers through 20 transactions.
The victim approached the police in mid-September only after realising that all his accounts had been emptied out by the so-called officers. The police managed to trace about one-tenth of the stolen money and froze the recipient accounts, pending investigation.
● March 2025: Karnataka couple commits suicide after harassment and threats of digital arrest
In one of the most tragic cases pertaining to this scam variant, an elderly couple in the Belagavi district of Karnataka committed suicide, unable to bear the relentless harassment and threats of “digital arrest” by scammers. The husband and wife were aged 83 and 80, respectively.
The unkindest cut in this case was that the criminals, impersonating telecom officials from Delhi, had managed to extort INR 5 lakh from the victims, but they went on squeezing the couple. The victims borrowed some money to meet the demands of the criminals, but eventually could not take it anymore. They both consumed sleeping pills and the husband also tried to cut his own throat.
—With inputs from PTI
