Targeting well-known individuals like judges, journalists, and business executives, online in India con artists impersonating police have started a multi-million euro “digital arrest” fraud. As thieves keep people hostage while posing as law enforcement, this intricate cybercrime plan has grown to be a serious worry.
S.P. Oswal, the chairman of the Vardhman Group and an Indian textile mogul, paid €770,000 to con artists acting as federal agents in August after they accused him of money laundering.
Until he paid the ransom, the 82-year-old was held under home camera surveillance and threatened with arrest.
Other well-known victims of this “digital arrest” hoax include army commanders, doctors, and court judges.
Despite initiatives against the fraud, victims sent almost €1.3 million to scammers between January and March alone.
Deadly toolkit
The scam seems to be changing, according to Faisal Kawoosa, principal analyst at tech consulting firm Techarc.
“The government and regulatory bodies have come up with measures to make it difficult for scammers to use traditional means such as phishing, so they have found this new technique,” Kawsoosa told RFI.
“But these have limited shelf life as everybody eventually comes to understand that a scam like this exists,” he added.
According to a May report, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia were the source of 46% of cyberattacks on India, which prompted Indian officials to have discussions on cross-border cybercrime in Southeast Asia.
According to estimates from the state-run Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (ICCC), Indians who suffered from various online attacks lost 18 billion rupees, or around 2 billion euros, over the course of four months at the start of this year.
Using the hashtag #SafeDigitalIndia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on students to support state efforts.
“No government agency threatens you on the phone like this, neither enquires nor demands money on a video call like this,” Modi said in a radio interview on the subject of digital arrest.
In the first four months of 2024, India received almost 741,000 cybercrime complaints, up 113% from 2021 to 2023, according to the ICCC.
‘Held hostage’
Richa Mishra, a television journalist who was subjected to digital arrest, acknowledged that she was confused and nervous throughout the hours-long experience on October 5.
“At one point I was thinking of ending my life,” said Mishra, who was accused of drug trafficking when she was held hostage by online imposters.
Mishra later claimed that using portals that were configured as security beacons to file a complaint took her several hours.
A man was recently caught by police in a neighbourhood of Delhi for allegedly laundering €100,000 for con artists.
Less than 2% of stolen funds are recovered, despite criminals passing billions of rupees via banks, raising questions about the role institutions play in enabling these transactions.
India has seen a 1,000% increase in online financial fraud in the last five years, with 536 million WhatsApp users and 955 million internet users becoming prime targets for hackers.
After 1.5 million allegations of cybercrime in 2023, India received over 700,000 complaints from January to April of this year alone.
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