What we know about Digital Arrest : A squabble on veracity of Public Authorities

INTRODUCTION

Era of technological advancement marks the standpoint of inalienable harm that construes with its progression. Fictitious representation of Public Authorities or law and order enforcement authorities over digital spectrum creates a sense of distrust among the public. The veracity of public officials stands on question with the augmentation in the number of fake encounters of people digitally.

Although, technology constitutes an integral part of the lifestyle of the people, but with it comes its disadvantages of fraud. The digital or electronic fraud is a sub set of cyber fraud. The scammers use electronic mediums like WhatsApp or Skype to make video or voice calls to lure a person into their trap.

DIGITAL ARREST- WHAT IS IT?

Digital arrest is the term that denotes to any arrest which is made electronically over any voice call or through an intermediary app or website (WhatsApp and Skype). The modus operandi of fraudsters is to trick the targeted person into acquiring any benefit, which is mainly fiduciary in nature.

Fraudsters usually pose as law enforcement authority and create a fake scenario where any family member or any related person is detained in their custody or the person so targeted is bound to be detained for a crime that he might be perpetrator to. Many such instances have surfaced up at an alarming rate.

DIGITAL ARREST - A QUESTION ON ITS LEGALITY

The laws of India do not recognize it as legal, nor does any provision prescribes for it. The Information Technology Act of 2000, does not specifically provides for any such anti-scam measure to deal with digital fraud but can be charged under cyber fraud. The ambit of digital arrest encompasses fraud in the name of public officials to trick the targeted person by asking them some monetary benefits.

Recently, in Indore, a women was duped of Rs 46 lakhs on the pretext of her involvement in terrorist activity and money laundering by way of her bank account which was used for illegal transactions and that she was under digital arrest by the fraudster who was purporting to be an official of the CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation]. The women was held captive on the premonition of digital arrest for 5 days and was threatened to pay the money to safeguard herself and her family, along with it she was interrogated as well.

Thus, the main operation of digital arrest works on the precondition that the imposter poses as an official like police and judges, to lure the targeted person into the trap. Usually people remain unaware of the law which has no such provision for upholding the legal validity of digital arrest.

Public trust is the biggest factor to determine a sound socio-legal order in the society. But with the mishandling of technology at its peak, the concern as to the safety and trust of public is at stake. The novel trick of the cyber fraudsters is by portraying as public authority to deceive the targeted person and pushing them by creating threatening situations to give in to their demands.

A digital arrest scam in the name of CJI D.Y. Chandrachud was etched towards businessman Mr. S.P. Oswal asking him for an amount of Rs 7 crores, wherein he was subjected to fake court proceeding by issuance of a fake order of the Supreme Court. He added that the setup looked very court like except for the part where the video of the judges wasn't shown.

ACTION AGENDA BY GOVERNMENT

The Government issued the directives for the public to be aware of such kind of frauds that are happening in the name of public officials who are intending to digitally arrest a person and thereby demand monetary benefits from the targeted person. The government has taken following steps-

1. Blocked and stopped 1000 fake and spam id's used for scamming with the help of Microsoft.
2. Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center has issued directives for the public to be aware of the digital fraud scams.
3. Creation of Digital Intelligence Platform[DIP] has been done by the Department of Telecommunication to keep track of all the real time mobile servers.
4. "1930" is the allotted helpline to connect with cyber crime cells.
5. To register complaints, www.cybercrime.gov.in is the designated portal where a complaint can be registered.
6. Government is increasing its functional ambit to aware the public of the fraud of digital arrest.

CONCLUSION

The issue of digital arrest has laid its tentacles to grab soak out money from targeted persons who mostly becomes victim to such scammers. It is the lack of public awareness that has become a conduit for the scammers to easily target an individual out of their wits by impersonating public officials and thereby demanding money from them in the same chain of events. In the recent time, such cases have multiplied and are posing a threat to the society and the public trust which rests on these public officials for upholding the law and order in the society and the nation.

The government at its behest is taking aggressive measures to deal with such scamming agendas by identifying and blocking them using technological tools like artificial intelligence and software. Technology though comes with great advantaged but carries an undercurrent of huge disasters with itself, The resultant of such disaster is the cyber crime that has spurred upwards, to which digital arrest fraud is a new prism to defeat strict government checks and to outwit the public awareness of the previous tactics for the time till it surfaces up to engage public awareness.

References

1. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/madhya-pradesh/woman-faces-5-day-digital-arrest-loses-46-lakh-to-fraudsters-in-madhya-pradesh/article68731708.ece
2. https://www-livelaw-in.dnlulib.remotlog.com/top-stories/scammers-fake-supreme-court-hearing-impersonate-cji-dupe-industrialist-of-7-crore-271253
3. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2062022#:~:text=for%20an%20individual.-,Such%20mobile%20connections%20along%20with%20telecom%20resources%20and%20mobile%20handsets,taken%20on%20fake%20/%20forged%20documents.&text=fake%20/%20forged%20documents-,i.,registered%20in%20multiple%20States/UTs.