The Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear next week a suo motu case dealing with victims of so-called “digital arrest” scams, a rapidly growing form of cybercrime where fraudsters impersonate law enforcement or government officials to extort money from victims through threatening audio and video calls.
The matter was mentioned before a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi by Attorney General R Venkataramani, who informed the court that a status report in the case would be placed during the day. He told the bench that steps were being taken in the matter and requested that the case be taken up next week.
The bench agreed and said the matter would be listed next week or at the earliest.
The proceedings stem from the court’s earlier concern over the rise of “digital arrest” frauds. In such scams, cybercriminals pose as police officers, court officials, or representatives of government agencies. Through threatening audio or video calls, they intimidate victims and pressure them into transferring money, effectively holding them hostage during the interaction.
On February 9, the Supreme Court had described the siphoning of more than ₹54,000 crore through digital frauds as nothing short of “robbery or dacoity”. The court then directed the Centre to prepare a standard operating procedure (SoP) to tackle such crimes in consultation with stakeholders including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks, and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
During earlier hearings, the court also expressed serious concern over the growing menace of digital arrest scams and emphasised that banks must play a proactive role in preventing cyber-enabled fraud.
The bench had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to identify cases involving digital arrest scams and asked the governments of Gujarat and Delhi to grant sanction for the federal agency to proceed with investigations in the identified matters.
In addition, the court instructed the RBI, DoT, and other authorities to convene a joint meeting to develop a framework for compensating victims of digital arrest scams. It observed that a pragmatic and liberal approach should be adopted while awarding compensation to victims.
The Attorney General earlier informed the court that the RBI had prepared an SoP for banks, which includes measures such as placing temporary debit holds on bank accounts to prevent cyber-enabled fraud.
Taking note of the proposal, the Supreme Court directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to formally adopt the RBI’s SoP and issue directions to ensure its implementation nationwide.
Earlier, on December 1, the apex court had also ordered the CBI to conduct a unified pan-India probe into digital arrest scams. It had further asked the RBI why artificial intelligence (AI) was not being used to track and freeze bank accounts used by cybercriminals.
The court is expected to review the latest status reports and the progress made by authorities when the matter is taken up next week.
