New Delhi: Cases of ‘digital arrest’ are on the rise in India, with most of the victims being older citizens.
In one of the most daring cyber fraud cases in recent times, a senior citizen couple in Haryana’s Ambala was allegedly ‘digitally arrested’ and cheated of Rs 1.5 crore by scammers who posed as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials.
Not only that, the fraudsters used a forged Supreme Court order to entrap the couple.
The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the case.
It all began in early September, when retired Haryana Roadways auditor Shashibala Sachdeva and her husband received a WhatsApp video call from some persons who claimed to be CBI officers. They showed the couple a forged Supreme Court order, accusing them of being involved in a money-laundering case.
The rattled couple believed the fake narrative, and the husband and wife were kept under a ‘digital arrest’ for 13 days — September 3 to 16.
The scamsters forced the senior couple to break their fixed deposits prematurely and transfer Rs 1.5 crore to various accounts under the pretext of investigation.
It was only after the husband’s health deteriorated due to mental stress that he informed his daughter about their ordeal.
The family promptly approached the Cyber Crime police station in Ambala, where a case was registered and an investigation launched.
The Supreme Court expressed shock that the fraudsters had dared to forge an order of the top court.
“Ordinarily, we would have directed the state police to expedite an investigation. We are, however, aghast that fraudsters fabricated multiple orders in the name of the Supreme Court of India,” a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said.
“Such cases require strict action,” the court said, adding that fake judicial orders with forged signatures of judges damage public faith in the judiciary.
The Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre, CBI, Haryana government and Cyber Crime department, Ambala, seeking their responses.
The Supreme Court also asked Haryana government and Superintendent of Police, Cyber Crime, Ambala, to submit a status report on the progress of the investigation.
That the Supreme Court does not see the Ambala case as an “isolated incident” was clear from its decision to take suo motu cognisance of a spate of other ‘digital arrest’ scams.