SC takes suo motu cognisance of 'Digital Arrest', seeks responses from govt, CBI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Centre and CBI in a suo motu case initiated over digital arrest scams, where cybercriminals impersonating law enforcement officials extort money from people.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, while sending notice to the Centre and CBI, said it was aghast that the fraudsters behind such scams often use forged court orders to trick people into parting with their money. The bench sought assistance of the attorney general in the case.

The top court took judicial notice of the issue following a complaint sent to it last month by a senior citizen couple. They were defrauded of their life savings through a digital arrest scam carried out during September 1-16.


The victims, in their letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India, rued that they were contacted by people impersonating as CBI, Intelligence Bureau and judicial authorities through video conferencing platforms and telephones. The fraudsters displayed forged orders of the Supreme Court through WhatsApp and other video platforms.

Under the threat of arrest through forged documents, the couple was coerced into transferring ₹1.5 crore through multiple bank transactions. "Ordinarily, we would have directed the state police to expedite the investigation and take it to the logical conclusion. We are, however, aghast that the fraudsters have fabricated multiple judicial orders in the name of the Supreme Court of India, including a freeze order dated 1st September, purportedly issued under PMLA, bearing forged signatures of a judge, an officer of ED, and a court stamp also," the bench on Friday said.

"Such grave criminal acts cannot be treated as an orderly or routine offence of cheating or cybercrime," it observed. "The instant case is not a solitary instance. It has been largely reported many times in the media that such incidents have taken place in different parts of the country," the court said.