A digital arrest scam is extortion by video call. Callers posing as police or CBI officers say you are linked to a crime, keep you on camera for days, and make you transfer your savings. No Indian agency arrests anyone on a video call. If the call comes, hang up and call 1930.
- There is no such thing as a digital arrest. Police, the CBI, customs, the ED and judges do not arrest people on video calls.
- Indians reported losing over Rs 4,200 crore to digital arrest scams between January 2022 and August 2026, in about 3 lakh complaints.
- Losses peaked at Rs 1,935 crore in 2024. In January to August 2026, 21,900+ complaints reported Rs 647 crore lost, and single cases still run into crores.
- Speed saves money: call 1930 or report on cybercrime.gov.in at once.
What a digital arrest scam is
The phrase belongs to the scammers. In an October 2024 advisory, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) of the Ministry of Home Affairs said the CBI, police, customs, the ED and judges do not arrest people through video calls. The ministry says the callers use studios made to look like police stations and government offices, and wear uniforms, and keep victims visible on Skype or another video app until they pay.
How a call unfolds
A parcel in your name has been seized with drugs or fake passports, or your number is about to be cut off. TRAI says it does not contact customers about disconnection.
The call is "transferred" to a police or CBI officer, who says your Aadhaar has turned up in a money laundering case.
You must install a video app and stay on camera. Uniforms, a fake police station and forged papers make it feel real. The Supreme Court's own case is titled In Re: Victims of Digital Arrest Related to Forged Documents.
The case is "secret" and you must not tell your family. The "arrest" can last days, weeks or months.
You move your savings "for verification", with a promise that it will come back. Sometimes a small amount is returned first to build trust.
An illustration of a typical call, based on the Home Ministry's description. Tap any stage.
Mumbai, November 2024A 77-year-old woman was told that a parcel she had supposedly sent abroad held drugs and five passports, and that her Aadhaar was linked to money laundering. Kept on Skype and told to tell no one, she transferred Rs 3.8 crore to six bank accounts. When she finally called 1930, investigators froze all six.
How big the problem is
Money reported lost, in Rs crore. Tap a column for details.
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs in Parliament, March 2025, via PTI (2022 to 2024); I4C reports to the Supreme Court, via Free Press Journal, October 2026 (2025, 2026). *2026 is January to August.
Losses grew more than 20 times in two years, from Rs 91.14 crore in 39,925 complaints in 2022 to Rs 1,935.51 crore in 2024, after 60,676 complaints in 2023. I4C told the Supreme Court that 1,23,672 complaints were made in 2024, then 58,239 in 2025 with Rs 1,211 crore lost, and over 21,900 from January to August 2026 with over Rs 647 crore lost. Added up, that is over Rs 4,200 crore since 2022 (our calculation).
Digital arrestAll other cyber fraud
Source: Our calculation: Rs 1,211 crore of Rs 22,495 crore, 2025
- Rs 4,200 crore+reported lost, January 2022 to August 2026
- 3 lakh+complaints in the same period
- 180 minutesthe longest call major telecom operators now allow
- Rs 11,158 croresaved by fast reporting, across all cyber fraud, to June 2026
Recent cases
In October 2026, Delhi Police traced where one victim's money went. Callers posing as Delhi Police, anti-terror and NIA officers had told a 69-year-old retired scientist that his Aadhaar was misused for money laundering, and kept him under constant video watch. Police arrested 11 people.
- Rs 1.25 croresent by the victim by RTGS
- 3 accountsreceived the money
- 7 channelsonline, where mule bank accounts were bought and sold
- 5.5%commission to the man running the account, paid in crypto
- Rs 73 crorein 78 complaints across states, linked to the same network
Source: Delhi Police, via Deccan Chronicle (PTI), 13 October 2026
Gujarat, October 2026Callers posing as police and TRAI officials kept a victim under fake online detention for about three months and took Rs 11.42 crore. The CBI says two men it arrested used a private company's bank account to receive Rs 2.5 crore, then moved it across accounts to hide the trail.
What the courts and agencies have done
- October 2024I4C warns that the CBI, police, customs, the ED and judges do not arrest people on video calls.
- March 2025I4C has blocked 3,962 Skype IDs and 83,668 WhatsApp accounts used for digital arrest, and 7.81 lakh SIM cards reported by police have been blocked.
- October 2025The Supreme Court takes up digital arrests on its own, after a letter from a senior citizen couple in Haryana cheated of more than Rs 1 crore.
- December 2025The court asks the CBI to run a unified, pan-India probe, including the role of bank officials who allegedly help run mule accounts.
- August 2026The court tells the RBI to adopt a standard procedure for temporary debit holds on mule accounts, and asks for a time-based cut-off for long calls.
- September 2026The RBI publishes draft rules for those holds.
- October 2026I4C tells the court that the CBI, which takes cases of Rs 10 crore or more, has arrested more than 49 people and charge-sheeted over 140, and that major telecom operators now end calls at 180 minutes.
- December 2026The RBI's debit-hold procedure is tentatively due.
- January 2027Victims of small electronic banking frauds, up to Rs 50,000, can claim 85% of the loss or Rs 25,000, whichever is lower, if they report it within five days.
If the call comes
Checked 0 of 6. Every one of these lines is a scam.
- Hang up. Don't transfer money, share an OTP or install any app.
- Report fast. Call 1930 or use cybercrime.gov.in. Fast reports let money be stopped before it moves on: by 30 June 2026 this had saved more than Rs 11,158 crore in more than 32.80 lakh complaints, across all cyber fraud.
- Report the number and call your bank. Report the caller on Chakshu, in the Department of Telecommunications' Sanchar Saathi portal or app, and call your bank on the number printed on your card.
What employers can do
- Brief staff at inductionA one-page note: the script above, the fact that no agency arrests anyone on a video call, and the 1930 number. Make "I got a strange call" easy to say.
- Ask them to brief their parentsThe Supreme Court has noted that mostly senior citizens are targeted, and many victims are kept on calls for weeks without telling anyone.
- Collect fewer copiesA caller who can read out someone's Aadhaar or PAN number sounds official. Every photocopy in an inbox is one more place those details can leak from.
- Warn about mule accountsScam money moves through accounts held in other people's names. In October 2026 the Bombay High Court refused anticipatory bail to a man whose account received Rs 4.03 crore from one victim. Staff should never lend a bank account, UPI ID or SIM card.
Where TheRollNumber fits
No identity product can stop a scam call, and ours does not. What we can change is how many identity copies are in circulation. In ADi Wallet, people share verified results rather than document copies. Aadhaar is re-validated with a fresh OTP, verifiers see only the last 4 digits and the result, and every share is logged and can be revoked. Employers running background checks on Checkkbox get a report of results, not a folder of photocopies. If you want your HR team to hold fewer identity copies, talk to us.
Sources
- The Tribune (PTI), "CBI, ED don't nab via video calls: Advisory to curb 'digital arrest'", October 2024
- Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Home Affairs), "Alert against incidents of 'Blackmail' and 'Digital Arrest' by Cyber Criminals Impersonating State/UT Police, NCB, CBI, RBI and other Law Enforcement Agencies", May 2024
- Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, "Beware of Fraudulent Calls Impersonating TRAI", Press Release No. 22/2025, April 2025
- SCC Online, "From RBI SOPs to a Call 'Kill Switch': SC's Plan Against Digital Arrest Scams" (In Re: Victims of Digital Arrest Related to Forged Documents, order of 4 August 2026), August 2026
- Deccan Chronicle, "Elderly woman kept under digital arrest, loses Rs 3.80 crore", November 2024
- Verdictum, "Supreme Court Orders CBI Probe Into Digital Arrest Cases Across India", December 2025
- Business Today (PTI), "Two held by CBI for Rs 11.42 cr 'digital arrest' case in Gujarat", October 2026
- Deccan Chronicle (PTI), "Retired Scientist Loses Rs.1.25 Cr to Digital Arrest Scam; 11 Held", October 2026
- Bar and Bench, "Digital arrest scam: Bombay High Court denies bail to accused whose bank account received ₹4 crore", October 2026
- Reserve Bank of India, "RBI invites comments on the Draft 'Reserve Bank of India (Know Your Customer) Amendment Directions, 2026'", September 2026
- Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Home Affairs), "Steps taken to address the issue of digital arrest scams", March 2025
- Ministry of Home Affairs, "National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal", accessed October 2026
- Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Home Affairs), "National Cybercrime Response Mechanism", July 2026
- Free Press Journal, "Digital Arrest Fraud: Over 21,900 Complaints Involving ₹647 Crore Registered In 2026, Centre Tells Supreme Court", October 2026
- Business Standard (PTI), "Digital arrests, cyber crimes tripled during 2022-24, govt tells Parliament", March 2025
- Inc42, "Indians lost INR 1,935 Cr to digital arrest scams in 2024: Govt", March 2025
- Millennium Post, "MHA: Over Rs 8,189 crore in cyber frauds averted due to national reporting system", February 2026
- Business Today, "RBI's new digital fraud compensation rules from January 2027", June 2026
- Press Information Bureau, "Sanchar Saathi App" explainer, September 2025
