Police never make digital arrests: Rajasthan Police

Jaipur, Oct 28 The Cyber Crime Branch of the Rajasthan Police on Tuesday issued an advisory to alert the public about a rising cybercrime trend known as digital arrest.

The police have clarified that no police department or government agency arrests individuals via video call or any digital medium. Citizens are urged to remain vigilant to avoid falling victim to this fraud.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, Cyber Crime, Vikas Sharma, explained that cybercriminals pose as officials from the CBI, Police, Customs, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax Department, or Judiciary.

“They contact victims over the phone and use intimidation tactics such as claiming that the victim’s children or family members have committed a crime and will be arrested, alleging that money linked to anti-national activities or money laundering has been deposited in the victim’s bank account, demanding verification of all bank accounts, FDs, or investments and asserting that a SIM card issued using the victim’s Aadhaar number is involved in a crime,” he said.

He added that using these false threats, the criminals intimidate and “digitally arrest” victims by keeping them on a continuous video call.

DIG Sharma further explained that after initial intimidation, victims often receive a video call from a fake senior official.

He said that this fraudster demands that the victim deposit money into a “government bank account” for verification, falsely claiming that it is part of a tax or investigation process.

“In reality, this account belongs to the cybercriminals. The fraudsters force victims to stay on video call during the so-called investigation and warn them not to share the information with anyone, including the police,” he said.

He said that to safeguard against such scams, the public should never make video calls to anyone claiming to be a police or government official regarding a crime, should never send money if someone demands payment over a video or phone call — no government agency will ever do this, check the caller ID — ensure that the call originates from an Indian number starting with +91, report immediately to the nearest police station or cyber police station if you receive such threats or suspicious calls, file a complaint online at the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal: https://cybercrime.gov.in or call the cyber helpline number 1930.

--IANS

arc/dan

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