What is Digital House Arrest and how to avoid it? | Explained
Many people have reported incidents where cybercriminals have claimed that they are speaking from an investigating agency and hold the victim hostage at home and defraud them. Here’s how this works.
Digital House Arrest is a new term coined by cyber criminals who are constantly finding new ways to cheat people in the rapidly growing digital world. This new method involves scammers pretending to be police officers, CBI or customs officials and calling people to keep them hostage at home. They then proceed to empty the victim's bank account. Many cases of this type of fraud have come to light recently. In this post, we will explain this new method of cybercrime and how to avoid it.
According to a recent report by the RBI, bank frauds worth over Rs. 30,000 crore have been recorded in India in the financial year 2023. Over the last decade, 65,017 fraud cases have been reported in Indian banks, resulting in Rs. 4.69 lakh crore being defrauded. Cybercriminals are using various scams such as UPI, credit card, OTP, job and delivery scams to defraud people. In addition to these, Digital House Arrest is becoming a prevalent method for scammers.
What is Digital House Arrest?
Digital House Arrest is a method adopted by cybercriminals to hold the victim hostage at home and defraud them. The scammers create an environment of fear by making audio or video calls, impersonating police or officers through AI-generated voice or video calls, claiming that the victim has done something wrong with their Aadhaar or phone number. They keep people imprisoned in their homes by giving them the fear of arrest and force them to pay money.
This is how scammers trap people
Scammers trap people by posing as officials and intimidating them with threats of arrest and defamation. Recently, a woman posted on social media about how a scammer had posed as a police officer and tried to rob her. Although she did not fall into the trap, her story shocked people. A similar case happened in Prayagraj, where a scammer claimed that a parcel containing drugs, a laptop and a credit card was being sent to Taiwan in the victim's name. The scammer intimidated the victim, threatened her with arrest, and forced her to deposit Rs. 1 crore 48 lakh in different accounts.
How to avoid digital house arrest?
To avoid Digital House Arrest fraud, vigilance is essential. Whenever you receive such calls or messages, report them to the authorities. The government has launched the Chakshu portal in the Sanchar Saathi website to prevent cyber and online fraud. You can also report such incidents to the nearest police station or cyber police station.
Keep these things in mind
It is also crucial to keep some things in mind, such as not sharing your personal information such as Aadhaar, PAN card or banking details with anyone. Banks or government institutions will never ask you for your PIN or OTP. Therefore, you should never share your personal information with anyone, even by mistake. Also, regularly change the passwords of your social media and bank accounts to avoid online fraud.
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