By Prateek Chauhan
New Delhi: An elderly man sits trembling inside his drawing room for hours, his mobile phone camera switched on under strict instructions from a caller posing as a police officer. On the screen, a fake identity card is flashed repeatedly as the fraudster warns him that his Aadhaar number has allegedly been linked to a money laundering racket.
Moments later, another caller claiming to be from the CBI declares that he is under “digital arrest” and cannot contact his family or friends.
Terrified and isolated, the man obeys every instruction. By the time the call ends, his entire life savings have vanished.
Across India, such chilling incidents are no longer isolated crimes. The crime scene is no longer a dark alley or an abandoned warehouse. It is now a smartphone screen — and for thousands of victims, one video call has become enough to wipe out a lifetime of savings.
Investigators say India is witnessing the rapid rise of a sophisticated cybercrime industry built around so-called “digital arrests”, online sextortion and fake e-commerce frauds.
In another fast-growing cyber racket, victims are being trapped through video calls that begin innocently but quickly turn into extortion operations.
The scam often starts with a random video call from an unknown number. A young woman appears on screen, speaking in a friendly and flirtatious manner, claiming she likes the person and wants to spend time with him. Unaware of the trap, many victims continue chatting and reconnect later through messages.
Soon, the caller persuades the victim to engage in intimate acts on camera. What the victim does not realise is that the entire interaction is being secretly recorded.
Within minutes, the tone changes completely.
The victim is then shown screenshots and recordings of himself and threatened that the videos will be circulated on social media or sent directly to family members, relatives and colleagues unless money is transferred immediately.
What follows is relentless blackmail.
Panic-stricken and ashamed, many victims silently transfer large sums online to avoid public humiliation. Cyber gangs exploit fear and social stigma, knowing fully well that many victims hesitate to approach police due to embarrassment.
Investigators say these syndicates operate through carefully layered systems involving fake identities, forged police credentials, mule bank accounts and trained callers skilled in psychological manipulation.
Another recent cyber fraud busted by Delhi Police cyber cell has exposed how even routine online shopping is being turned into a hunting ground for organised criminals.
On May 13, Shahdara Cyber Police revealed details of an online shopping fraud after a Delhi woman complained that she had been cheated of Rs 49,963 through multiple online transactions after coming across attractive Facebook advertisements offering branded suits and sarees at discounted prices.
According to the complaint, the fraudsters persuaded her to transfer money for order booking and delivery. Soon after receiving the payments, they stopped responding and blocked her across all communication platforms.
According to DCP Rajender Prasad Meena of Shahdara district, investigators immediately launched a technical probe which traced the operation to Alwar district in Rajasthan.
Police found that the accused were running an organised cyber fraud network using fake promotional videos, forged Facebook profiles, mule bank accounts and SIM cards procured specifically for illegal activities. After sustained surveillance, police arrested the alleged mastermind, identified as 33-year-old Sarup Khan, from an interior village in Alwar.
Investigators say the accused was part of a larger organised group running online shopping scams through fake social media advertisements, particularly on Facebook.
The scale of India’s cyber fraud explosion is reflected starkly in official figures.
In 2022, digital arrest-related frauds caused losses of Rs 91.14 crore. By 2025, the amount has exploded to nearly Rs 1,935 crore.
According to figures from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), 39,925 digital arrest scam cases were reported in 2022. The number rose to 60,676 in 2023 and then surged dramatically to 1,23,672 cases in 2024 alone.
By February 2025, another 17,718 cases had already been reported with losses exceeding Rs 210 crore.
From 2024 till early 2025, authorities recorded nearly 1.78 lakh complaints linked to digital arrest frauds involving losses of around Rs 1,935 crore.
Senior cybercrime investigators say many of these frauds are no longer being operated solely from within India. Criminal modules functioning from countries such as Sri Lanka, Dubai and parts of Africa are increasingly being linked to digital arrest scams targeting Indians.
A senior Delhi Police cybercrime officer said these operations now require extensive international coordination because the fraud ecosystem spans multiple countries, banking systems and digital platforms.
Officials say the Ministry of Home Affairs has been attempting to build stronger international coordination mechanisms so that local police agencies can act faster whenever such cyber frauds are detected.
“It is no longer an isolated cyber fraud. It has become a structured criminal industry,” an investigator said.
Authorities across India have intensified crackdowns after recent investigations uncovered fraud networks linked to scams ranging from Rs 14 crore to Rs 23 crore across Delhi, Telangana and several other states.
Investigators say these syndicates function through multiple operational layers.
The first layer involves illegal databases containing Aadhaar details, phone numbers and banking information sourced through phishing attacks, leaked databases, fake loan applications and compromised customer records. Senior citizens, businessmen, doctors and NRIs are often specifically targeted because they are considered financially stable and more likely to comply with authority.
The second layer resembles a professional call centre operation. Recruits are trained using prepared scripts to impersonate police officers, ED officials, telecom authorities and bank representatives. Many recently busted modules allegedly operated in shifts and worked on commission-based targets similar to corporate sales teams.
Victims are often shifted to video calls where fake police stations, forged FIRs, fabricated arrest warrants and men in police uniforms are displayed to create fear and legitimacy.
Many are instructed not to disconnect calls, not to speak to relatives and not to step outside their homes — effectively placing them under a psychological “digital arrest”.
Cyber investigators say this isolation is deliberate.
The criminals aim to break the victim’s ability to think rationally by creating panic, fear of arrest and fear of social humiliation. Victims are then persuaded to transfer money into so-called “safe government accounts” for verification.
By the time the victim realises the fraud, the money has already moved through multiple bank accounts and cryptocurrency channels.
Another critical layer involves “money mules” — individuals who rent or sell their bank accounts in exchange for commissions. Fraud money is rapidly broken into smaller transactions and routed across several states within minutes to avoid detection.
Investigators say many account holders are poor or unemployed individuals lured by quick money without fully understanding the scale of the criminal network.
The final layer involves laundering money through cryptocurrency exchanges, shell companies and hawala channels, where the money trail often turns international.
Recent investigations involving Indian nationals in Sri Lanka have again exposed the cross-border nature of these cyber syndicates. Officials suspect links extending into larger international scam ecosystems operating across Southeast Asia and other regions where organised cyber fraud compounds have flourished.
According to a senior Police officer Cyber cell Delhi police nowadays our policing has changed our units are now coordinating more closely with banks, telecom companies and central agencies to trace SIM procurement chains, freeze suspicious accounts and monitor cryptocurrency transactions.
But investigators admit the challenge remains enormous. These syndicates can shut down operations overnight, erase digital evidence and reappear under entirely new identities within days.
(Cover Representative Image: AI Generated)
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