CJI flags rise in 'digital arrest' scams, says even educated falling prey

Supreme Court raises concern over rising cyber frauds where scammers pose as officials; calls for safeguards as victims lose life savings

Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant on Monday voiced concern over the persistence of so-called “digital arrest” frauds, noting with dismay that even highly educated individuals are being duped by scammers posing as police officials or members of the judiciary to extract money through video calls.

 

Sharing a recent instance, he said a woman known to him in an official capacity had lost her entire post-retirement savings to such a scheme.

 

According to him, she was left distraught after being deceived into transferring her funds.

 

The remarks came after Attorney General R Venkataramani sought a deferment in the suo motu proceedings dealing with the issue, citing ongoing inter-departmental consultations. He told a bench of the CJI and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that “they are moving very fast” to tackle the issue of digital arrests and sought more time to file the status report.

 

 

The Supreme Court had earlier taken up the matter on its own motion, subsequently directing that cases across states be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

 

Following the court’s intervention, the Ministry of Home Affairs set up a high-level committee, which has since submitted a report outlining a standard operating procedure to tackle such frauds.

 

In the previous hearings, the bench had also indicated that banks should put in place systems to flag unusually large or suspicious transactions to customers in real time.

 

Appearing as amicus curiae, Senior Advocate N S Nappinai suggested that intermediaries incorporate a “kill switch” mechanism to halt suspicious transactions. She explained that victims often panic when confronted with coercive calls from impostors, impairing their ability to respond rationally, and argued that technological interventions could help limit financial damage in such situations.

 

The matter is scheduled for further hearing on May 12. The court has previously been informed that losses from such scams have run into nearly Rs 3,000 crore.