The Supreme Court of India will hear next week a suo motu case on rising digital arrest fraud, where scammers impersonate officials to extort victims. The Court earlier asked the Centre, Reserve Bank of India, banks and Department of Telecommunications to frame SOPs.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court announced that it will hear next week a suo motu case regarding victims of digital arrest, a rising form of cybercrime where fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials, court personnel, or government employees to intimidate their victims through audio and video calls. These criminals hold their victims hostage and pressure them into paying money.
On February 9, the Supreme Court referred to the embezzlement of over Rs 54,000 crore through digital fraud as a clear case of “robbery or dacoity” and instructed the Centre to develop a standard operating procedure in collaboration with stakeholders, including the RBI, banks, and the Department of Telecommunications, to address such incidents.
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Attorney General R. Venkataramani brought the issue before a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. He stated his intention to submit a status report on the matter during the day and urged the bench to address the case, which was scheduled for hearing this Monday, at the earliest next week.
The bench confirmed that the matter would be listed for hearing either next week or as soon as possible.
On February 9, the Supreme Court expressed serious concern about the “menace” of digital arrest scams and emphasized that banks must take a proactive role in thwarting cyber-enabled fraud.
The apex court directed the CBI to identify cases of digital arrests and requested the Gujarat and Delhi governments to grant permission for the federal agency to proceed with its investigations into those identified cases.
Additionally, the court asked the Reserve Bank of India, the Department of Telecommunications, and others to convene jointly to establish a framework for compensating victims of digital arrests. The court emphasized the need for a practical and liberal approach to awarding compensation to these victims and required the authorities to submit updated status reports before the next hearing.
The Attorney General informed the bench that the RBI has prepared a standard operating procedure (SoP) for banks addressing such cases, which recommends measures such as placing temporary debit holds to prevent cyber-enabled fraud.
Issuing a series of new directives, the bench required the Ministry of Home Affairs to formally adopt the RBI’s SoP and implement it nationwide.
On December 1, the Supreme Court had instructed the CBI to conduct a unified pan-India investigation into digital arrest cases and questioned the RBI regarding its failure to utilize artificial intelligence to trace and freeze bank accounts exploited by cyber criminals.
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