Pavan Kumar
Ruchika Tandon was constantly monitored by strangers on the phone
During a harrowing week in August, Ruchika Tandon, a 44-year-old neurologist working at one of India's top hospitals, was caught up in what looked like a high-stakes federal criminal investigation.
Yet it was an elaborate scam – a web of deception woven by crooks who manipulated his every move and drained his and his family's savings.
Under the pretext of a “digital arrest” – a term fabricated by her attackers – Dr Tandon was forced to take a leave of absence from her job, give up her daily freedoms and comply with ongoing surveillance and instructions from strangers on the phone, who convinced her that she was at the center of a serious investigation.
The 'digital arrest' scam involves scammers posing as law enforcement officials on video calls, threatening victims with arrest based on false charges and pressuring them to transfer large sums of money.
In Dr Tandon's case, they stripped her and her family of almost 25 million rupees ($300,000; £235,000) spread across bank accounts, mutual funds, pension funds and life insurance – years of savings lost in a fabricated nightmare.
She is not alone. Indians lost over Rs 1,200 crore to 'digital arrest' hoaxes between January and April this year, according to official figures. These numbers only scratch the surface, as many victims do not report such crimes. Stolen funds are often routed to offshore accounts or cryptocurrency wallets. More than 40% of scams trace back to Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, according to authorities.
Mansi Thapliyal
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay was held 'hostage' in his office and forced to sleep on the couch by the crooks
Things are so bad that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the scam during his monthly radio address in October.
“Whenever you receive such a call, do not be afraid. You should be aware that no investigation agency ever asks for such a request through a phone call or video call,” he said. he declared.
India faces a range of cybercrimes, from fake investments and trade to dating scams. But the “digital arrest” scam turns out to be particularly elaborate and sinister – meticulously planned, relentless and invasive into every aspect of a victim’s life.
Sometimes scammers reveal themselves during video calls, while other times they stay hidden, relying only on audio. The plot could be straight out of an extravagant Bollywood thriller – except it's carefully choreographed.
On that fateful first day, scammers posing as officials from India's telecom regulator called Lucknow-based Dr Tandon, claiming his number would be disconnected due to “22 complaints” of harassing messages sent by him .
Moments later, a man claiming to be a senior police officer took over. He accused her of using a joint bank account with her mother to launder money intended for trafficking women and children.
Pavan Kumar
Dr. Tandon Received Fake “Digital Custody Consent”
In the background, a discordant chorus of voices echoed: “Stop her, stop her!”
“The police will arrive in five minutes to arrest you. All police stations have been alerted,” the man warned.
“I was angry and frustrated. I kept saying that couldn’t be true,” Dr. Tandon recalled.
The officer seemed to soften, but with a caveat. He said India's federal detective agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), would take over as it was a “matter of national secrecy”.
“I will try to talk and persuade them not to physically detain you. But you have to be under digital guard,” he insisted.
Dr Tandon used a feature phone that did not have video calls, which prevented the scammers from continuing. So they forced her to drive to a store and buy a smartphone.
Over the next six days, three men and a woman, posing as police officers and a judge, kept her under constant surveillance on Skype, with her phone camera running constantly.
They forced her to wake up her students at night to purchase additional data packs to continue the scam. She had to place the phone throughout the house – while she cooked, slept and even outside the bathroom – to track her every move.
Mansi Thapliyal
The screen in Mukhopadhyay's office only showed the fake badge and the name of the “police officer”.
She was also forced to lie to her hospital and relatives, claiming she was too ill to work or meet anyone. When an uncle visited, they ordered him to hide under a bed, with the phone camera on.
For an entire week, Dr. Tandon endured more than 700 questions about his life and work, a mock trial, falsified court documents, and promises of digital “bail” in exchange for his savings. In the mock court, he was ordered to dress in white to “show respect to the judge.” The callers had turned off their video, leaving only their fake names and real badges displayed on blank screens.
At one point during the ordeal, the scammers even spoke to Dr. Tandon's 70-year-old mother, asking her to stay silent “for the sake of her daughter.”
When the doctor repeatedly broke down on camera, the scammers told him, “Take a deep breath and relax.” You didn't commit murder. You just laundered money.”
In a desperate quest for freedom, she transferred all of her savings from half a dozen different bank accounts to accounts controlled by the scammers, believing she would be reimbursed after a “government audit.” Instead, she lost everything. The callers disconnected the line. once the transfer is complete.
Pavan Kumar
Dr. Tandon was monitored 24/7 for a week, even while she was cooking
Returning to work after a week, exhaustion led Dr. Tandon to search the Internet for terms such as “digital custody” and “new CBI investigative methods.”
This led to newspaper articles detailing similar “digital arrest” scams across the country. She had always refused to admit that she had been the victim of an elaborate prank and had rushed to the police station, hoping that “the station and the police were real.”
Dr Tandon says she approached the police station anxious.
“I’ve been getting strange calls for days,” she began, trying to explain.
Before she could say more, a policewoman abruptly interrupted her: “Did you transfer money?”
At another police station, “as soon as they heard my case, they started laughing,” recalls Dr. Tandon.
“It’s very common now,” a police officer said.
Mansi Thapliyal
Mr Mukhopadhyay says he was a 'digital slave' stuck in his office
More than 500 kilometers away, in Delhi, author and journalist Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay narrowly escaped the scam in July.
He spent 28 hours under “digital arrest” as scammers claimed his defunct bank account had been used to launder money. Mr Mukhopadhyay's suspicions were aroused when a caller asked him why he had not repaid his mutual funds – not a question a police officer usually asks over the phone.
Mr. Mukhopadhyay slipped out of his office, where crooks were watching him on his desk, and briefly confided in his wife. Friends, alerted by his message, quickly asked him to unplug his modem, thus freeing him from their grip.
“I became a digital slave until my friends exposed the scam,” says Mr. Mukhopadhyay. “I had transferred my funds into my account, ready to transfer everything to them. I felt like a fool when it was over.”
Pavan Kumar
The fake 'Justice Dhananjay' sported a badge with a photo of retired Chief Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud.
Progress in detecting these fraudsters remains unclear, with many victims frustrated by slow complaint processes.
Dr Tandon, however, had some success: police arrested 18 suspects, including a woman, across India. Around a third of the stolen money was recovered in cash and seized from various bank accounts. She has received only 1.2 million rupees of the 25 million rupees of her looted money so far – this is the recovered money.
Investigator Deepak Kumar Singh said the scammers were running a complex operation.
“The scammers are educated men and women – fluent in English and various Indian languages - including engineering graduates, cybersecurity experts and banking industry professionals. Most operate through Telegram channels,” said M . Singh, a senior police official, to the BBC.
Victims of the scam are given surveillance “rules” fabricated by India's top investigative agency.
…and a fake Supreme Court judge rules on “the case”
The scammers were smart and used targeted information from their victims' social networks, investigators believe.
“They track you, collect personal information and identify your weaknesses,” says Mr. Singh. “Then they strike quickly, using a hit-and-run approach with potential victims.”
The scammers knew that Mr. Mukhopadhyay was a journalist and writer, author of a biography on Prime Minister Modi. They knew that Dr Tandon was a doctor and had attended a conference in Goa. They had their biometric national identity number. Mr. Mukhopadhyay wonders if they knew he was among the journalists whose house was raided by Delhi Police in October 2023 as part of an investigation into NewsClick's funding (critics had deplored the move as an attack on press freedom, an accusation the government has denied). .)
They also made mistakes. Mr. Mukhopadhyay's caller did not know how long it typically took to redeem the funds, which aroused his suspicions. Dr Tandon's fake judge, called himself Justice Dhananjay and wore a fake badge with a photo of the recently retired Chief Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud. Yet, overwhelmed by the moment, she did not understand.
Dr. Tandon says she still lives in a fog, struggling to separate reality from the nightmare that has taken over her life. Even when she filed a police report, she wondered, “Was the police station also fake?”
Every phone call brings new anxiety.
“At work, I sometimes remain empty, full of fears. The days are better, but after dusk it gets tough. I have nightmares.
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