Hyderabad: A couple from Narayanguda were scared to even step out of their house after a four-day long of what they believed was a ‘digital arrest’. Apart from losing over Rs 2 crore, the elderly couple were constantly troubled by surveillance by scammers posing as law enforcement authorities. To get rid of it, the couple had at once thought of ending their lives. The couple, aged between 65 and 70 years, was ere living alone in the city as their children were settled in the US. One evening, they get a call from a scamster. After picking the phone call, the husband heard an automated caller say that his SIM had been blocked, and that he should press 1 for more details. On pressing 1, the call got connected to a scamster, who, posing as a Mumbai crime branch officer, told them that there was suspicious activity noticed on their number. The couple was further threatened that a case has been registered against them and that the only resort to getting out was to transfer money to the scamster’s bank account for a purported verification. “Followed by this, the couple was asked to stay on the video call and not step out. The couple was intimidated to an extent where they were told that police were waiting outside their house and if they so much as peep out of their window, they would be arrested,” an official from the cybercrime wing of the Hyderabad police said, quoting from the complaint. The number of cases involving the threat of digital arrests has grown three times as compared to the previous year. The monetary loss in the scams, which is more than any other cybercrime. In Hyderabad commissionerate alone, was Rs 65 crore in 336 reported cases of so-called digital arrests, as of November 30. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad cybercrimes DCP Dara Kavitha said, “The digital arrest scam has grown very recently. In 2022, no case was reported in the city, and in 2023, just 47. Cybercrime in general has increased, but the monetary loss in digital arrests has increased more. Individual people lose in crores.” Recalling another case, the DCP said a doctor got a call from a scamster while she was in her cabin at the hospital. The scamster, posing as a CBI officer, quoted her Aadhaar number. They made her isolate herself in a cabin, and asked her to tell everybody to step out and even threatened her saying she was under surveillance 24/7,” the DCP said. The victim was asked to go home and lock herself up, while the scamster would stay on call all that time. After staying on call for 19 hours, she finally decided to inform her husband. During that time, the victim was shown legal documents that consisted of fake signatures of a former Chief Justice of India. After she informed her husband, he guided her to report it to the cybercrime police. By then, the victim had transferred Rs 3 crore. “The very start of a call is scary for most people. It is an automated call and starts with a threat of a legal issue. A normal person, especially someone coming from a high-level society would never want such a case against them. There are certain professions where people do not bother to know much about current affairs and legal procedures,” the DCP said. Speaking of the solutions to deal with such issues, Kavitha said, “Firstly, we would urge the people to know that there is nothing like a digital arrest. The very concept of it is a scam. Secondly, always try to disconnect the call if it is an automated one. Disconnect and cross check. We get that legal procedures can be scary for some, but it is always good to reach out to the nearest police stations first.” “What needs to be understood fundamentally is that no such provision in the law exists. Even if there has been a suspicious activity noticed, any genuine authority would first reach out to the police station closest to one’s residence. So if at all one feels there might be a case against them, to clear the suspicion, always reach out to the police station and check if there is a case,” Kavitha said.
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