The Supreme Court has taken serious note of the digital arrest of a senior citizen couple in Haryana based on forged orders, highlighting the rising number of such cases and seeking responses from the Centre and CBI.
Cyber fraudsters have duped Delhi residents of nearly Rs 1,000 crore so far this year, with investment scams, digital arrests and boss scams emerging as the most common cybercrimes.
'Just like oral hygiene, cyber hygiene must become a daily habit,' says Beena Vaheed, executive director, Bank of Baroda. 'It is not enough to rely only on banks, companies, or the government. Each of us must play our part.'
President Droupadi Murmu addressed Indian Police Service probationers, highlighting the growing threat of 'digital arrest' scams and emphasizing the importance of ethical policing and public service.
Pune police have arrested a Telangana-based electronics engineer for an alleged online fraud with a private university of Rs 2.46 crore.
The money that was allegedly siphoned by fraudsters from Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee's dormant account with a nationalised bank earlier this week has been credited back to him by the bank authorities, the politician said.
The accused had links with six persons, arrested on November 3 from Morbi, Surendranagar, Surat and Amreli districts, for allegedly routing Rs 200 crore to Dubai-based cybercriminals using nearly 100 mule accounts, the release said.
Cyberabad police apprehended nine individuals for allegedly operating an international fake call centre that defrauded Australian citizens of millions of rupees over two years.
Trai has ordered BFSI firms to move service and transaction calls to the 1600 series from 2026 to reduce spam, financial fraud, and rising digital arrest scams.
The fraudsters threatened the victim, claiming that ATS Delhi had conducted a search operation in Mumbai in connection with the Pahalgam terror attack, and that his name had surfaced alongside those of builders, industrialists, and bureaucrats.
Political parties in West Bengal, including the ruling TMC and opposition BJP, have condemned the organizers of an event featuring Lionel Messi in Kolkata after it descended into chaos due to spectators' inability to properly view the football star. Demands for action and accountability have been made.
In the month of May, the victim got a call from a person identifying himself as telecom department staffer Amit Kumar, who told her a SIM card had been bought with her personal details for use in criminal activities.
Targets should avoid panicking and hang up. 'Disconnecting stops the scammers from building psychological pressure.'
Murders disguised as accidents. In one horrifying case, a man insured his father, mother, and wife -- then allegedly killed them all. He claimed Rs 54 crore in insurance.
A 39-year-old software engineer in Bengaluru lost Rs 11.8 crore to fraudsters who impersonated police officials and claimed his Aadhaar card was being misused for money laundering. The victim was threatened with "digital arrest" and tricked into transferring money to various bank accounts over a period of time, believing his family would be arrested if he didn't comply. The fraud occurred between November 25 and December 12, and police have registered a case under the IT Act and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for cheating and cheating by impersonation. Further investigation is underway.
Cyber fraudsters posing as Delhi ATS and Jammu & Kashmir police personnel cheated an elderly woman from Mumbai of Rs 22 lakh after accusing her of spying for Pakistan, officials said on Wednesday.
A retired banker in Delhi lost his entire life savings, amounting to Rs 23 crore, to cyber fraudsters who posed as ED and CBI officers. The victim was kept under 'digital arrest' for over a month and forced to transfer funds under duress.
'Big Week For #USIndia Law Enforcement Collaboration'
Some online fraudsters got their target and timing horribly wrong on Sunday after they attempted to 'digitally arrest' a senior police official with an automated call over 'credit card misuse' while he was addressing a press conference in Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
A mechanical engineer in Faridabad was held 'digitally' hostage for six days by cyber fraudsters who duped him of Rs 3.46 lakh. The fraudsters forced him to lock himself in a room and monitored his activities through his mobile camera. They convinced him that he was involved in a drug smuggling operation and threatened him with legal action. The victim eventually realized the scam when the fraudsters forgot to switch off their mics and started talking to each other. Police have registered an FIR and are investigating the matter.
The advisory depicted the logos of social media platforms like WhatsApp and Skype to showcase that calls for such scams are made using such platforms.
Digital house arrest is a tactic where cybercriminals confine victims to their homes in order to scam them. The offenders generate fear by making audio or video calls, frequently posing as law enforcement officers using AI-generated voices or video technology.
As per the advisory of cyber-security agency CERT-In, a digital arrest is the one in which victims receive a phone call, an e-mail or a message claiming they are under investigation for illegal activities, such as identity theft or money laundering.
Seventeen persons, including four hailing from Taiwan, were arrested by Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch for allegedly operating a nationwide 'digital arrest' racket, a Gujarat police official said on Monday.
The CBI has significantly increased the rate of fugitive repatriation, bringing back 134 individuals in the last five years, doubling the number from the previous decade. This success is attributed to enhanced diplomatic efforts, technological advancements, and improved coordination with Interpol.
The number of cyberfraud cases has skyrocketed from 2,677 in 1999-2000 to 29,082 in FY24 -- more than a 10-fold increase. The RBI pegs digital payment frauds at Rs 1,457 crore in FY24, up more than five times in a year. It's not just the number of frauds. What's alarming is the growing sophistication of the fraudsters, exposing the vulnerabilities within the financial system, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The victim, who had a keen interest in stock market investments, was lured by fraudsters with promises of hefty returns on investments in stocks.
UPI-related frauds have accounted for a cumulative loss of Rs 2,145 crore across 2.7 million reported incidents.
The fundamental responsibility for preventing such crimes and for bringing the criminals to justice rests with the State, and it cannot abdicate that function.
The police received over 500 complaints alleging that many social media influencers and YouTubers promoted the HIBOX mobile application on their pages and lured people into investing through the app, the officer said.
What is digital house arrest? It is a tactic cybercriminals use to confine victims to their homes and scam them, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
According to the police, the accused persons collected data, such as phone numbers and personal data from a portal, and the employees of the call centre randomly made calls using VoIP to US citizens.
With the solar panel scam continuing to turn the heat on Kerala's Congress-led United Democratic Front government, telephone call details gathered by investigators showed that several ministers and political leaders had made calls to the prime accused in the case Saritha Nair, apart from getting frequent calls from her.
The GST intelligence unit detected tax evasion of more than Rs 1.98 lakh crore last year and arrested 140 masterminds who were involved in defrauding the exchequer, the finance ministry said on Thursday. In 2023, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) detected significant GST evasion in diverse sectors like online gaming, casinos, insurance and secondment (import of manpower services). "DGGI has achieved an increase in detection of cases of evasion and voluntary payments. In 2023, DGGI detected 6,323 cases involving evasion of duty of Rs 1,98,324 crore with a voluntary payment of Rs 28,362 crore.
Mastermind Shrinivas Rao Dadi, 49, who has sound technical knowledge despite limited education, was taken into custody by a team of Bangur Nagar police station from a plush hotel in Hyderabad, the official said.
The new powers are aimed at making Sebi more effective in protecting investor interest and helping it to better regulate the market.
Fraudsters in Himachal Pradesh minted a series of a cryptocoins -- two of which were KRO and DGT -- to cheat thousands of investors of more than Rs 200 crore over a period of five years, beginning in 2018 -- the year the crypto reached fever pitch.
A pan-India 'fraud-to-phone' network has been busted by security agencies, which have also arrested eight people and seized nearly 300 new mobile phones bought with stolen funds, officials said on Tuesday. Moreover, 900 mobile phones, 1,000 bank accounts and hundreds of unified payment interface (UPI) and e-commerce IDs of this gang have been identified and are under investigation. Nearly 100 bank accounts, and debit and credit cards have been frozen by the security agencies so far, officials said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested a man for allegedly altering Aadhaar card details to withdraw Provident Funds of unsuspecting persons through online claims, officials said on Monday.
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