I've been told I'm under 'digital arrest' — what is this scam and what should I do?

It is a fraud, not a legal process. The caller usually says a parcel in your name contains drugs, your Aadhaar was used for money laundering, or a family member has been detained. You are told to stay on camera, not to tell anyone, and to move money into a 'safe' or 'RBI verification' account.

Indian law has no provision for arrest, interrogation or bail by video call, and no agency asks for money to clear your name. The Supreme Court has itself taken up the problem and asked the Union government to consider making it a standalone offence.

• A call or video call claiming you are under 'digital arrest' or 'virtual custody'
• Callers in uniform, or showing fake warrants, court orders or ID cards on screen
• Instructions to stay on the call and tell no one, including family
• Demands to move money to a 'secure' or 'verification' account
• Threats of immediate arrest, account freezing or passport cancellation

If even one of these appears, hang up and call 1930 from another phone.

1. Stop all payments and end the call. You are not legally obliged to stay on it.
2. Call 1930, the National Cyber Crime Helpline, as early as possible. Reporting within the first hours gives the best chance of the money being held.
3. File a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in. Some states also accept an e-Zero FIR, so ask when you call.
4. Call your bank's fraud helpline and ask it to freeze or hold the receiving transaction. Give the transaction ID, time, amount and the beneficiary account or UPI ID.
5. Preserve evidence: phone numbers, screenshots, recordings, account numbers, UPI IDs and chat logs. Do not delete anything.
6. Tell someone you trust. The scam depends on your isolation.

In In Re: Victims of Digital Arrest Related to Forged Documents, the Court issued interim directions that, as reported, include:

• The RBI must formally adopt a Standard Operating Procedure for temporary debit holds on accounts and amounts linked to money-mule activity, within 4 weeks.
• States and Union Territories must operationalise grievance-redressal and money-restoration mechanisms, set up Cybercrime Coordination Centres and adopt e-Zero FIR.
• The Ministry of Electronics, the Department of Telecommunications and I4C must examine a time-based 'kill switch' for audio and video calls.
• High Courts are to encourage victims to use the money-restoration mechanism first.

According to the status report cited in coverage, the restoration system covers dozens of banks and has already returned money in thousands of cases. The orders are interim and the case is continuing, so check for later directions.

Honestly, it depends mainly on how fast you report. If the funds are still sitting in the receiving account, a quick report can lead to a temporary hold. Once the money has been moved on through several mule accounts, recovery is harder.

One legal point matters: RBI's 'zero liability' protection applies to unauthorised transactions. In a digital arrest scam you usually make the transfer yourself under deception, so a bank refund is not automatic. Your realistic routes are the 1930 and NCRP process, the money-restoration mechanism, and court orders for release of frozen funds. Details of the zero-liability rules are in our UPI fraud guide.

Sections commonly invoked include cheating (Section 318 BNS), cheating by personation (Section 319 BNS), personating a public servant (Section 204 BNS), extortion (Section 308 BNS) and cheating by personation using a computer resource (Section 66D of the IT Act, 2000). Your complaint does not need you to name sections; the police apply them.