MHA warns of the dangers of "digital arrest"

Police in all states and Union Territories are notified by the Union Home Ministry of an increase in 'Digital Arrest' scams. Cybercriminals pretended to be law enforcement officials and threatened to extort money from victims by threatening to arrest and prosecute them. In relation to these occurrences, the MHA announced that its I4C wing has blocked over 1,000 Skype IDs. It is suggested that artificial intelligence is being used by these cybercriminals.

‘Digital arrest’ is a new and innovative tactic employed by cybercriminals to defraud gullible victims and extort money. The modus operandi in this cybercrime method is that fraudsters pose as law enforcement officials such as police, Enforcement Directorate, CBI, among others, and manipulate them into believing that they have committed some serious crime.

The cyber fraudsters deceive the victim into believing that he or she has been put under ‘digital arrest’ and will be prosecuted if they do not pay the scamsters a huge amount of money. As per cyber crime experts, the fraudsters' MO in this tactic is using fear and sense of urgency against the victims, and ensuring they part with their money before they release it is a scam.

The cyber criminals often force the naive victims to self-arrest or self-quarantine themselves, by tricking them into believing that they have been put under ‘digital arrest’ and cannot leave their house unless they pay up.

“In the last few months, several cases of fraud by posing as fake CBI officers, ED and NCB officers had come to light in the I4C wing of MHA,” the Home Ministry said, adding that a plethora of such complaints have been registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), prompting the cyber wing to take action.

The MHA said its cyber wing is working closely with other ministries and agencies, including the RBI, to expose and halt this alarming trend.

The Home Ministry said cyber criminals are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to scare victims by mimicking voices of their loved ones and family members, in order to extort money from them.

The MHA’s cyber wing has also set up a helpline number to report such cases and seek more information about this new method of cyber crime. Victims have been asked to call 1930 and immediately report such frauds to the I4C wing.