What Is ‘Digital House Arrest’?

The Delhi Police has warned residents of the national capital about a new cyber scam, that is now becoming more rampant.

According to the Delhi Police around 200 cases of ‘Digital House Arrest’ are reported from the nation every month.

‘Digital house arrest’ refers to a fraud where impostors impersonating law enforcement officers deceive the victims into believing that their bank account, SIM card, Aadhaar card, or other cards linked to their bank account has been used unlawfully.

The fraudsters then virtually restrain the victims from moving out of the house and coerce them into paying them money.

How Digital House Arrest works

The cops explained how ‘digital house arrest’ works with the example of a recent case:

“A man was getting ready for his office on December 30, last year when he got a call at around 8.43 am. The caller took his name and said he was speaking from the Crime Branch of Mumbai. He told the victim that his Aadhar card was used to transport drugs in some courier packages which were seized by the crime branch.”

The accused also started interrogating him, which created fear in the mind of the victim. They also asked the victim to not move out of his house for around 8 hours during the “questioning”.

The victim heard some voices coming from behind which were voices similar to wireless radio transmission of police. Later the accused asked him to download a Skype application and remote access to the desktop.

A man appeared before him wearing a cop dress, interrogated him for hours, and asked the victim to show his bank account details to see if he had received any ‘foreign funds’. Meanwhile, they hacked his system and drained his account completely.

Cybercriminals are good at convincing victims

Police said that such ‘cyber thugs’ are technically sound and know how to convince their targets and drain their hard-earned money.

These fraudsters use translation tools for better English to send threatening letters and forge letterheads of police departments. They usually procure Aadhar cards from other sources.

According to the cops, if anyone has been duped by the scammers the victims must immediately call the police helpline numbers to report the matter.