The call comes when you are having breakfast, or stepping out for a walk, or simply sitting at your desk. The voice on the other end is calm, official, and authoritative. It introduces itself as a cybercrime officer or a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official. It tells you something is wrong with your Aadhaar card, or bank account, or that a parcel has been booked in your name. It tells you that you are already under investigation.
Suresh Mehta, 64, a retired insurance executive in Mumbai, knows exactly how it feels. One morning, his phone rang and the caller told him that a bank account linked to his Aadhaar card had been used to launder money. The caller was knowledgeable enough about his personal details to sound authentic. The call was transferred to another official, and then another, each sounding more professional than the last one. During a series of video calls, the couple were shown what appeared to be official documents and were told that a confidential money laundering investigation was underway. The fraudsters warned them that discussing the matter with anyone could amount to interference in the probe and lead to immediate arrest. Over the next three weeks, Mehta and his wife avoided speaking to family and friends, convinced they were cooperating with law enforcement. The scammers claimed their assets needed to be temporarily moved to a government-monitored account. They transferred money from their savings accounts. When that ran out, they broke fixed deposits. Then came the jewellery. In total, they lost nearly Rs.1.9 crore.
What happened to Mehta is happening across India at a scale that is difficult to comprehend. Cyber fraud is no longer an emerging threat, but a full-blown epidemic. According to data submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to Parliament, Indians reported 28.15 lakh cybercrime cases in 2025, resulting in financial losses of `22,495 crore. The growing menace has even drawn the attention of the Supreme Court, which expressed concern in November 2025 over reports that digital arrest scams had cost victims nearly Rs.3,000 crore. The figures underscore how rapidly cybercrime has evolved from isolated incidents to a largescale organised enterprise.
These are not small operations run out of a back room. They are organised, crossborder enterprises, with training manuals, performance incentives, and shift systems.
How the con works
It was only when the fraudsters asked the Mehtas to mortgage their apartment that they grew suspicious and alerted their daughter. By the time the family understood what had happened, the callers had disappeared. Embarrassed and convinced that the money was gone forever, Mehta delayed approaching the police for several weeks. He eventually lodged a complaint after persuasion from his family. “I kept thinking I was helping clear my name,” he says. The Mehtas requested anonymity, so we have changed their names.
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“Digital arrest scams do not attack your bank account first; they attack your mind,” says Prashant Mali, a cybersecurity law expert. “They weaponise fear, authority, urgency, and social stigma in a single phone call, making even educated professionals panic and comply,” he says.
According to research published in the Journal of Communications Finance (JCF), many digital arrest scams operate through a ‘three-line system’. The first caller, posing as a bank representative or telecom official, alerts the victim to a supposed discrepancy and offers to connect them to a higher authority. The second line involves fraudsters impersonating police officers, often appearing in uniform during video calls and using intimidation tactics. The third line introduces a purported senior official, who informs the victim that they are under ‘digital arrest’ and oversees the subsequent proceedings. The study notes, as several victims have confirmed, that criminal syndicates are well-trained for these roles and may receive performance-based incentives. All these calls are via videos, which makes them appear more imposing, threatening, and, therefore, authentic.
Global criminal network
“Modern scam syndicates operate like multinational corporations (MNCs),” says Mali, adding, “They have call centres, scripts, technology teams, money mules, recruiters, even performance targets. One person creates fear, another builds trust, and a third extracts money.” A significant part of this fraud is coordinated from Southeast Asia, particularly Myanmar and Thailand, where workers are lured via fake job advertisements and forced to run the scams. Between January 2022 and March 2025, Indian authorities rescued 2,471 citizens from such operations abroad, cites the research.
Most calls are placed via Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) through apps like WhatsApp and Skype, with servers outside India, complicating tracing. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used to clone voices and generate convincing fake video calls. Fake government notices on letterheads are shared over WhatsApp to reinforce the illusion. “A phishing e-mail asks for your password,” Mali explains. “A digital arrest scam hijacks your judgement. Fraudsters now use AI, deepfake voices, leaked personal data, and social media intelligence to create highly personalised attacks.” Once money is transferred, it is split across dozens of mule accounts and moved to offshore destinations, layered to defeat forensic tracking.
SURESH MEHTA, 64
Mumbai
Retired insurance executive
Defrauded in: 2025
Note:Posing as a cybercrime official, the scamster claimed that Mehta’s Aadhaar card had been linked to a money laundering case. Over several weeks, multiple fraudsters posing as officials convinced him he was under investigation.
MODUS OPERANDI
Fake investigation, forged documents,and continuous video calls.
ACTION
Filed a cybercrime complaint after discussing the issue with his daughter.
FINANCIAL LOSS
Rs.1.9 crore (Money not yet recovered)
(Names changed to protect identities)
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When they come knocking
Not every victim is elderly, and not every target is financially inexperienced. Arjun Nair, 24, a software engineer in Bengaluru, received a call telling him that a parcel booked in his name containing illegal substances had been intercepted and that a criminal case had been registered against him. He dismissed it and hung up.
Hours later, two men arrived at his apartment complex, claiming to be police personnel sent to take him for questioning. When Nair asked for identification and details of the first information report (FIR), the visitors grew evasive. He called a local police station, and no case had been registered. He told the visitors he was willing to accompany them to the station. They left without a word. He filed a complaint on the cybercrime portal the same day and alerted his housing society. “What frightened me was seeing people turn up at my doorstep pretending to be police officers,” he says.
His experience points to a growing trend: fraudsters are no longer operating only over screens. They are becoming more sophisticated. “The two biggest mistakes are continuing the conversation and believing you can outsmart the fraudster,” says Mali.
“The moment suspicion arises, disconnect, preserve evidence, block transactions, inform the bank, and report immediately to 1930 and the cybercrime portal,” he adds.
Rohit Mahajan, Founder and Managing Director of plutos One, a payments infrastructure company, adds that no demographic is safe. “These fraudsters are storytellers. They are emotionally intelligent, study their targets, and know which pressure point to press. I have seen IAS officers and senior police officials fall for these scams. If you think this only happens to the uneducated or financially ignorant, you are wrong,” he says.
ARJUN NAIR
24, Bengaluru
Software engineer
Defrauded in: 2023
Note:After receiving a call linking him to an illegal parcel shipment, Nair dismissed it as a scam. Hours later, two men claiming to be police officers arrived at his apartment.
MODUS OPERANDI
Fraudsters combined a digital arrest scam with physical intimidation to make their claims appear genuine.
ACTION
Verified the claims with the local police and reported the incide
NO FINANCIAL LOSS.
Watch out for these scams too!
Digital arrest scams may dominate headlines, but they are only a part of a rapidly expanding cybercrime ecosystem. Fraudsters are constantly adapting and targeting new victims, from job seekers and investors to online shoppers and UPI users.
1.TASK & REVIEW SCAMS
Victims receive WhatsApp or Telegram messages, offering money for simple tasks such as liking videos, posting reviews or following social media accounts. Small payments are initially made to build trust, before victims are persuaded to invest larger sums, that eventually disappear.
2.DEEPFAKE INVESTMENT FRAUDS
Scammers use AI-generated videos and fake endorsements featuring business leaders, celebrities or market experts to promote fraudulent trading platforms. Victims often see fake profits on their dashboards, but are unable to withdraw funds.
3.QR CODE PAYMENT TRAPS
One of the most common UPI frauds involves fraudsters asking users to scan a QR code to ‘receive’ money. In reality, scanning the code and entering a PIN authorises a payment from the victim’s account.
4.FAKE JOB & WORK-FROMHOME OFFERS
Cybercriminals lure job seekers with attractive remote-work opportunities and high earnings. Victims are later asked to pay registration, training or processing fees, after which the recruiters disappear.
5.FAKE CUSTOMER CARE & SCREEN-SHARING
Fraudsters posing as bank executives, payment-app representatives or customer-support agents convince users to install screensharing or remote-access applications. Once access is granted, they obtain sensitive banking information and transfer funds.
6.MARKETPLACE & REFUND SCAMS
Often seen on classified platforms and social media marketplaces, these scams involve fake buyers, sellers or refund requests. The victims are tricked into approving payment requests or transferring money in the guise of receiving a refund.
7.E-CHALLAN & APK DOWNLOAD SCAMS
Victims receive messages claiming that they have violated traffic rules or have a pending fine. Clicking on the link downloads a malicious application or file (with .apk extension) that can access the messages, contacts and banking credentials stored on the device.
Neha Verma
47, Jaipur
School principal
Defrauded in: 2025
Note:She invested via a platform promoted in a seemingly genuine video by a prominent business leader. It showed impressive returns, prompting her to invest more.
MODUS OPERANDI
An AI-assisted investment scam involving a fake platform, deepfake content and fabricated investor groups.
ACTION
Alerted her bank and lodged a cybercrime complaint.
FINANCIAL LOSS
Rs.18 lakh
Recovered around
Rs.3 lakh
Fake returns trap
The traps extend well beyond digital arrests. Neha Verma, 47, a school principal in Jaipur, did not receive a threatening call. She came across a video featuring a well-known business leader discussing an AI-powered investment platform. News channel logos appeared on screen. Nothing felt wrong. She clicked, registered, and within hours, a relationship manager called. She was added to a WhatsApp group, where hundreds of members appeared to share daily market tips.
She invested Rs.50,000 first. The portfolio appeared to grow. She invested more, first from savings, then fixed deposits. Her dashboard showed a portfolio of nearly Rs.38 lakh. When she tried to withdraw, she was told she needed to pay a regulatory clearance fee. Then a tax charge. Then a processing fee. The WhatsApp group disappeared overnight. She lost Rs.18 lakh. Around Rs.3 lakh was eventually recovered after a complaint. “I didn’t trust a stranger,” she says. “I trusted a real video, real experts, and hundreds of people who seemed to be making money.”
What Verma encountered was a deepfake, a synthetic video generated using AI to replicate the face and voice of a real public figure. “I am increasingly seeing cloned voices of familiar personalities, fake video calls from executives, and AI-generated customer support scams,” says Mali. “Seeing should no longer believing, and hearing is no longer proof.”
“Fraudsters are implementing new AI tools faster than banks and payment networks can respond,” says Mahajan. “As soon as money is transferred, within seconds it gets distributed across hundreds of accounts through mule networks spread across India. Once it moves, recovering it is nearly impossible.”
“What draws people in is fabricated data,” says Ankit Chauhan, Deputy Commissioner–South District, Delhi Police. “They are shown someone making 30-40% returns in just a few days. None of it is real. It is simply numbers displayed on a screen,” he explains.
What to do
No legitimate law enforcement agency in India conducts investigations over WhatsApp. No government official will ask you to transfer money to a private account to avoid arrest. Customs officers do not contact individuals via SMS requesting payment to release a parcel. The Income Tax Department already has your bank details and will never call asking you to share them. Do not answer calls from unknown numbers.
If you believe you have been targeted, file a complaint immediately at cybercrime. gov.in or call 1930. Keep at hand the phone numbers that you contacted, screenshots of messages or video calls, transaction IDs, account numbers you were asked to transfer to, and the times of each interaction. Also call your bank and ask them to initiate a fraud recall request. These steps are more likely to succeed within the first 24-48 hours. File an FIR at your nearest cybercrime police station, as it creates a paper trail; the portal complaint alone may not. “Not sharing with people or reporting to 1930 and losing the golden hour is the single most damaging mistake,” says Mali.
The system fights back
The government’s response has expanded, with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) training more personnel. Researchers and enforcement agencies are increasingly turning to technology, including AIpowered tools such as MuleHunter.AI, to identify suspicious mule accounts and disrupt fraud networks.
Yet, a significant legal gap remains. Digital arrest is not defined as a specific offence under either the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, or the Information Technology Act, 2000, thereby slowing conviction rates. Most district-level police departments lack the forensic infrastructure to investigate complex cyber fraud, as per JCF research. “The cybercrime of tomorrow will not steal your password; it will steal your identity and borrow your credibility,” warns Mali.
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