83,668 WhatsApp accounts blocked, and still no case count
Across three parliamentary answers between December 2024 and December 2025, the Indian government reported blocking Skype IDs, WhatsApp accounts, SIM cards and handsets used for digital arrest at a steadily rising rate — from 1,700 Skype IDs to 3,962, and 59,000 WhatsApp accounts to 83,668. In the same answers it repeats that no separate count of digital arrest cases exists.
- Year
- 2025
- Where
- India
- Outcome
- Ongoing
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Digital arrest, Government impersonation
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-06
The facts, as recorded
- 10 December 2024: I4C had blocked more than 1,700 Skype IDs and 59,000 WhatsApp accounts used for Digital Arrest.
- 12 March 2025 and 25 March 2025: the figure had risen to more than 3,962 Skype IDs and 83,668 WhatsApp accounts.
- SIM cards blocked in connection with cyber fraud: more than 6.69 lakh to 15 November 2024; more than 7.81 lakh to 28 February 2025; more than 9.42 lakh by October 2025; more than 11.14 lakh by December 2025.
- Handsets blocked by IMEI: 1,32,000 to 15 November 2024; 2,08,469 to 28 February 2025; 2,63,348 by October 2025; more than 2.96 lakh by December 2025.
- Every one of these answers repeats that specific data regarding digital arrest scams is not maintained separately by the National Crime Records Bureau.
- The Prime Minister discussed digital arrest on the Mann Ki Baat broadcast of 27 October 2024, and Aakashvani ran a dedicated programme on 28 October 2024.
- A caller tune campaign with the Department of Telecommunications began on 19 December 2024 in English, Hindi and ten regional languages, with Digital Arrest as one of six named modus operandi.
- India and its telecom operators built a system to identify and block incoming international calls spoofed to display Indian mobile numbers.
Why this case matters
India is the only country on this site with a national campaign against a single named scam. The Prime Minister discussed digital arrest on a national broadcast. Six caller tunes name it in twelve languages. Advertisements ran in newspapers and on the Delhi Metro.
And there is no number for how many people it has happened to.
What is counted
Enforcement activity, in rising increments.
| Date | Skype IDs | WhatsApp accounts | SIM cards | Handsets (IMEI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2024 | 1,700+ | 59,000 | 6.69 lakh | 1,32,000 |
| Mar 2025 | 3,962 | 83,668 | 7.81 lakh | 2,08,469 |
| Oct 2025 | 3,962 | 83,668 | 9.42 lakh | 2,63,348 |
| Dec 2025 | — | — | 11.14 lakh | 2.96 lakh |
The Skype and WhatsApp figures are specific to digital arrest. The SIM and IMEI totals cover cyber fraud generally.
Two things are visible in that table. The account-blocking numbers more than doubled in three months and then stopped moving, which means either the figure stopped being updated or the activity moved. The SIM figure kept climbing throughout — 4.45 lakh more numbers in thirteen months.
What is not counted
Every one of these answers contains the same sentence: specific data regarding digital arrest scams is not maintained separately by the National Crime Records Bureau.
So the position is that India has named the scheme, briefed the nation about it, blocked tens of thousands of accounts used for it, and cannot say how many people have been subjected to it or how much they lost.
That is not a criticism unique to India — no country on this site counts scams by scheme rather than by legal category, which is the recurring problem this site’s methodology page describes. It is unusually visible here because the gap sits inside a single document: the measures and the absence of measurement, on the same page.
The blocking is real, and it is not a defence
Blocking a SIM removes a number. Blocking a WhatsApp account removes an account. Neither removes an operator, and both are replaced at a cost that is close to zero for anybody buying numbers in bulk.
The one intervention in these answers with structural potential is different: a system devised with the telecom operators to identify and block incoming international calls spoofed to display Indian mobile numbers. That attacks the deception rather than the instance of it — and it matters because what makes digital arrest work at all is a call that appears to originate inside the country.
Sources
- DIGITAL ARREST SCAM. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India / Press Information Bureau. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The 10 December 2024 figures of 1,700 Skype IDs, 59,000 WhatsApp accounts, 6.69 lakh SIMs and 1,32,000 IMEIs, and the international spoofed-call blocking system.
- STEPS TAKEN TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE OF DIGITAL ARREST SCAMS. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India / Press Information Bureau. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The 12 March 2025 figures of 3,962 Skype IDs, 83,668 WhatsApp accounts, 7.81 lakh SIMs and 2,08,469 IMEIs, and the statement that NCRB keeps no separate digital arrest data.
- Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 432, answered 2 December 2025: Cases of Cybercrime. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The December 2025 totals of 11.14 lakh SIMs and 2.96 lakh IMEIs, the Mann Ki Baat broadcast of 27 October 2024, the Aakashvani programme of 28 October 2024 and the caller tune campaign from 19 December 2024.
- Curbing Cyber Frauds in Digital India. Press Information Bureau, Government of India. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The October 2025 totals of 9.42 lakh SIM cards and 2,63,348 IMEIs blocked.