What exactly is the Scam called ‘Digital Arrest’?
The cyber fraud known as the “Digital Arrest” is relatively new and increasingly common kind of online fraud. This type of fraud involves con artists posing as police officers or someone from the government or even the police, in order to defraud people. Here we will look at the various aspects of it and will explain what the scam is all about with clarity, how it functions and how it affects everyone involved.
Understanding the Scam
The “Digital Arrest” actually starts with a call or a video call from a man who pretends to be a police officer, official or even a judge. The caller warns the victim that he or she has been under investigation for a serious crime such as money laundering, human trafficking or drugs trafficking. In order to make the scam more believable, the fraudsters might present fake documents, use logos from police stations and make video calls while their colleagues dress in police uniforms.
How the Scam Works
- Initial Contact: The victim gets a routine call or a video call from the scammers as a police officer. Scammer tells the victim that he is under investigation and that he has to cooperate in order not to be arrested.
- Creating Urgency: These fraudsters design the appearance of the email in a way that makes the victim feel that their accounts are frozen and that they must unfreeze it immediately. It also can even intimidate the victim with the promise of immediate arrest if he or she does not conform.
- Requesting Money: The perpetrator tricks the victim into sending money to their account by offering to clear their name, or threatened with arrest. The fraudsters may supply a bank account number and identify as requiring secrecy; the victim should not tell anyone.
- Continuous Communication: The scammers keep pestering the target, and put them under psychological pressure making them unable or unwilling to contact authorities or investigate the claims.
- Extraction of Sensitive Information: Sometimes, the fraudsters may request other private details such as the account number, password or other related identifiers, in the name of formulating an investigation.
Impact on Victims
This has left the victims of Digital Arrest break financially, emotionally as they experience a feeling of captivity. Some of the victims have been financially wiped out and others have lost all their cash as they have lost their life savings. Under the psychological pressure, the victims are convinced they are engaged in lawful criminal actions and must adhere to the criminals’ instructions not to be arrested.
Real-Life Examples
Of recent, several well-known cases have come to the spotlight proving the extent of the “Digital Arrest” scam. For instance, Rs 3.07 crore was tricked from a retired professor of Patna University on the pretext of investigation on money laundering. Another victim was a neurologist from Lucknow who was conned out of around Rs 25 million after being put under constant monitoring as well as pressure to transfer money.
Prevention and Awareness
To protect oneself from falling victim to the "Digital Arrest" scam, it is crucial to be aware of the tactics used by fraudsters and take preventive measures:
- Verify the Caller: In any case you must try to identify the caller and then call the local police department or any other governmental institution.
- Do Not Share Personal Information: In regard to detail section and privacy, never provide any details related to personal or even financial character through the phone or targeted video number with unidentified person.
- Report Suspicious Calls: In case a person feels that it is a fake call they should promptly report it to the local police or cybercrime department.
- Stay Informed: Be familiar with the current scams and fraud practises that can be used by potential threats.
Computer Emergency Response Team of India
The Computer Emergency Response Team of India, (CERT-In), is the national focal point for responding to such Computer Security Incidents as are reported as and when they happen. It was established in the year 2004. It was formed under the IT Act, 2000. MeitY is the ministry under which it works. Its primary goal is to promote security of communication and information in India by prevention and cooperation.
Roles and Functions
CERT-In's roles and functions include:
- Incident Response: Serving as the central coordinating body of the Indian computer incident response team with regard to major computer security incidents within the Indian cyber community.
- Information Dissemination: Maintaining data on cybercrimes experiences, collation of the data, and sharing the data. This involves the publication of circulars, measures, threats and weaknesses and outlines on information security measures.
- Cyber-security Awareness: Enhancing consciousness level of security among the people in India and providing technical support in order to overcome from cyber security attacks.
- Coordination: Managing cyber-attack contingency measures and collaborative with other comparable institutions and organizations in addressing significant security concerns.
- Emergency Measures: Addressing the need for emergency procedures to address actual and potential cyber threats.
Key Initiatives
CERT-In has launched several key initiatives to strengthen cyber security in India:
- Cyber Swachhata Kendra: This Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre was launched in February, 2017 under Digital India as a service to clean and analyse the malware.
- Public-Private Partnerships: This has been indicated through the partnership with Fortinet, an independent computer technology company in the private sector, to enhance cyber security knowledge and capability among learners and teachers as well as other professionals.
- Advisories and Alerts: Maintaining advisories and alerts to keep the people and organizations updated on possible risks and weaknesses in cyber space.
Vision and Mission
As per the vision of CERT-In is to respond and plan ahead in order to effectively protect India’s cyber space and to develop secure cyberspace for the citizens of India. Its role is to promote actions for improving the security of the communications and information infrastructure of India and to act efficiently.
Addressing Online Scams: Guidelines from CERT-In
Digital Arrest scam and many other cyber threats are fought with by Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In). To mitigate such scams, CERT-In has listed down procedure and approach with an aim to increase and upgrading awareness of people to prevent them from being victims of such scams.
- Identity of the caller: Beside some of the recommendation made available by CERT-In, one of the measures is to ask anyone who claims to be from any law enforcement agency or government office to prove his claim. Legal entities will never put pressure on people to transfer money instantly or share personal data by phone or through videocalls. To confirm the authenticity of such a call, people should only communicate directly with the agency that made the call through the agency’s official website contacts.
- Avoiding immediate financial transactions: “Never transfer money when pressured”; this advice comes from CERT-In. Another common feature of the scammers is to cause fear to make the victims make the decisions quickly. Real police forces would never ask for money to be wire transferred or call and threaten to arrest you. People should think for some time before acting and do not give personal details or money in pressure.
- Reporting Suspicious Activity: Calling local police or cybercrime divisions is important in passing such leads. CERT-In has set up the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal through which people can report cases of cybercrimes. However, to support the next steps of filing an online cyber complaint, the National Toll-free Helpline number 1930 is launched. Reporting activity allows authorities to monitor and investigate cybercrime situations easier.
- Strengthening digital security: cyber security; digital protection: In order to tackle this problem of online scams, CERT-In is advised to enhance the security procedures offline. This entails having a tight administrative password, the use of multiple authenticators, ensuring all software is set to update itself regularly and ensuring the antivirus software is up to date. These measures assist in protection of persons’ information and discouraging of intrusion on accounts.
- Education and Raise Awareness: It is therefore important to increase people’s awareness level about scams and how they are able to deal with them online. CERT-In is responsible to periodically provide advisories and alerts regarding the new threats and risks in the cyber space. The modern way of world is gradually becoming informed so as to liberate oneself from being a victim of online scams.
- Public-Private Partnerships: CERT-In works with the private players to build up the talent and awareness in the cyber-security domain. Such collaborations assist in preparing people, learners, instructors, and other practitioners to prevent or at least to counter cyber threats efficiently. Particularly, most of the PPPs assist in creating a secure environment for cyber-security systems since they offer shared resources.
- Cyber Swachhata Kendra: It plays an essential role in eradicating malware and embracing virtual space as a cleaning center that will benefit everyone, including individuals and companies. Using such resources can help prevent or identify a threat posing a risk to a computer network.
The Rise of Digital Scams
Cybercrimes have emerged more over the last year especially since many aspects of daily life are now contact with the help of the internet. There are many reasons that contribute to these scams, and knowing them is important when trying to stop these types of scam.
The some of the factors contributing to the increase in scams involves:
- Increased Online Activity: COVID19 impacted society and forced individuals to make transactions online, work from home and communicate digitally. This increased trend in the use of the internet opened more spaces for conmen to attack innocent people.
- Sophistication of Scammers: The criminals are getting smarter, they use advanced tools and they understand how the human mind works. It takes advantage of loopholes in computer networks and capitalizes on people’s ignorance in regards to cyber-security.
- Lack of Financial Literacy: Such people often fail to be aware of the schemes and how to avoid them, so equipping them with this information makes the system reliable. This makes them easy targets of fraudsters who come up with elaborate methods of embezzling money and the client’s identity.
- Rapid Technological Advancements: This means that the modus operandi of any such criminals also undergoes alterations due to advancement in technology. New players enter the market rapidly with the different platforms and tools, which makes difficult for individual and organizations to follow new threats.
- Globalization: An increase in globalization means that fraudsters now have a blank cheque on a global stage, where it will be easy for them to defraud people in one country and escape to other one.
What to Do If You Ever get scammed?
In case you come across a digital scam, it is good to try and follow the steps below to minimize the losses and seek help:
- Report the Scam: It is recommended that you contact your local police or cybercrime to make a complaint. You can report cyber-crime through National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal or through National Toll-free Helpline number 1930.
- Notify Financial Institutions: Advice your bank or credit card Company about the scam. They can act to protect your accounts and stop more charges you did not authorize.
- Seek Legal Advice: Inform yourself regarding your legal possibilities and ways in which you can salvation your losses with the help of the lawyer specialized in cybercrime.
- Contact Consumer Protection Agencies: Contact the relevant consumer protection agencies for help.
- Use Support Networks: Attach yourself to groups and relevant organizations that deal with the aftermath of being scammed. These networks may provide emotional support, legal aid and information on how to get back into the society.
- Educate yourself and others: Learn about common scam tactics and share this knowledge with family and friends. Awareness is a powerful tool in preventing future scams.