India's government describes the fake police station on the screen
On 14 May 2024 India's Ministry of Home Affairs published an alert describing a scheme it calls "digital arrest": callers posing as police, CBI, the narcotics department, the RBI or the Enforcement Directorate, holding victims on video for as long as it takes. The detail that makes the alert unusual is the set — the government records fraudsters using studios modelled on police stations, in uniform.
- Year
- 2024
- Where
- India
- Outcome
- Ongoing
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Digital arrest, Government impersonation
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-06
The facts, as recorded
- The Ministry of Home Affairs published the alert on 14 May 2024 through the Press Information Bureau.
- Fraudsters impersonate State and UT police, the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Narcotics Department, the Reserve Bank of India, the Enforcement Directorate and other law enforcement agencies.
- The standard opening is that the victim has sent or is due to receive a parcel containing illegal goods, drugs, fake passports or other contraband.
- A variant claims a relative has been detained after a crime or an accident, and that money will resolve the case.
- Victims are made to undergo a "Digital Arrest" and remain visually available over Skype or another video conferencing platform to the fraudsters until the demands are met.
- The MHA records fraudsters using studios modelled on police stations and government offices, and wearing uniforms, to appear genuine.
- The alert states this is an organised online economic crime operated by cross-border crime syndicates.
- I4C had blocked more than 1,000 Skype IDs involved in the activity, in collaboration with Microsoft, as at the date of the alert.
- Citizens are advised to report immediately to helpline 1930 or cybercrime.gov.in.
Why this case matters
Most government scam alerts describe what a victim will hear. This one describes what the fraudsters built.
The fraudsters are known to use studios modelled on Police Stations and Government offices and wear uniforms to appear genuine.
That single sentence is the whole scheme. There is no malware, no fake website and no payment page. There is a set, a costume, and a camera that is not allowed to be turned off.
What the alert describes
A call arrives claiming the recipient has sent, or is due to receive, a parcel containing drugs, fake passports or other contraband. Or that a relative has been detained after a crime or an accident.
The caller is police, or the CBI, or the narcotics department, or the Reserve Bank of India, or the Enforcement Directorate. Money is demanded to “compromise the case”.
Then the part that gives the scheme its name: victims “are made to undergo ‘Digital Arrest’ and remain visually available over Skype or other video conferencing platform to the fraudsters, till their demands are met.”
Not a call that ends. A call that does not end.
Why the video is the innovation
Every other impersonation scam on this site has a gap in it. The victim hangs up, tells a family member, looks something up, sleeps on it. Time is the defence, and it is usually available.
Digital arrest removes it. Staying on camera means never being alone with the claim, never consulting anyone, and being watched while doing what you are told. It converts a phone call into custody without anybody having to be in the same country.
The uniforms and the constructed police stations exist to make the first ten minutes survivable for the fraudster. What holds the victim for the next ten hours is the camera.
What the government could and could not say
The MHA attributes the scheme to organised cross-border crime syndicates, and a later government backgrounder of 8 October 2025 describes India’s cyber fraud problem as often linked to fraud factories in Southeast Asia.
What it does not do is count. The government’s own answers state plainly that specific data regarding digital arrest scams is not maintained separately by the National Crime Records Bureau. India has a named scheme, a national awareness campaign and a Prime Ministerial broadcast about it — and no case count.
Sources
- Alert against incidents of 'Blackmail' and 'Digital Arrest' by Cyber Criminals Impersonating State/UT Police, NCB, CBI, RBI and other Law Enforcement Agencies. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India / Press Information Bureau. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The 14 May 2024 alert, the impersonated agencies, the parcel and detained-relative pretexts, the video confinement, the police-station studios and uniforms, the cross-border syndicate attribution, the 1,000 Skype IDs and the reporting advice.
- INCIDENTS OF DIGITAL ARREST. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India / Press Information Bureau. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The government's later restatement of the same mechanics and its measures.
- Curbing Cyber Frauds in Digital India. Press Information Bureau, Government of India. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The 8 October 2025 backgrounder describing organised fraud with links to fraud factories in Southeast Asia.