Cybercrimes are taking new dimensions and forms in the era of digital pervasiveness necessitating digital engagement and digital responsiveness. The cyber criminals are using a new modus operandi in psychologically victimizing the high profile professionals including medical practitioners, IT engineers, professors, and private employees by stealing their personal information, terrorizing and accusing them as suspects in critical international crimes, blackmailing for immediate arrest warrants and creating a pressure to transfer their bank deposits in unknown account spoofed to be owned by RBI for surveillance and returnable within 3 to 5 days after completion of verification. The tactics used by the cybercriminals are creating a no-contact situation by isolating the victim from contacting anyone, forcing to stay online and not disconnecting the call to avoid a breach of confidentiality for a high-profile case under investigation, repeatedly humiliating for accepting the crime by tagging the victim as suspect, giving evidence for leakages of identity and showing documents and arrest orders with the victim’s name and identity information, showing a simulated CBI office and police office environment dubbed by police uniform on video calls.
The following case reported in Faridabad, Haryana shows a chain of incidents and portrays a mental harassment and digital torture faced by the victim belonging to a well-educated and professional group.
Dr. Kavita (name changed) got furious with an automated call fudged to be from TRAI at 1:55 pm on 6th December 2024 asking for disconnection of her mobile number in two hours for violation of regulatory agreements under TRAI. The tele-caller continued, “Please dial 1 to continue on message and 0 to talk to the customer executive.”
With little suspicion and urgency to know more to avoid inconvenience for disconnection of her number to affect her immediate work, moved Dr. Kavita to dial 0, to enquire further and resolve the matter on priority. To her dismay she gets to know from the customer executive that a sim issued in her name in Mumbai is involved in illegal activities and her number is registered as an alternate number for that sim, hence there are immediate disconnection orders for her sim. He said that the sim is issued on 20 March 2024 from the address -shop no.10, Kruskal Tower, Ghat Gober Park Road, Pin- 40003098, Mumbai.” For further information the customer executive asked her to talk to his manager- Deepak Kumar, “I can transfer the call, if you do not want disconnection.”
Deepak Kumar, impersonated the TRAI manager and identified himself with employee ID as TRAI7864 - repeatedly confirmed his location at the Delhi TRAI office on verification of authenticity by Dr. Kavita, who clarified that, “If you want to continue service of your mobile, you have to provide NOC from Mumbai police as your alternate number has been involve in illegal activities of serious nature such money laundering, human trafficking, and sending pornography videos. There are stringent orders from Mumbai police to seal this number immediately. Please quote the complaint number 29870 while asking for NOC from Mumbai Police.” He also said, “You can come to our office in Delhi on the second floor if you doubt my identity.”
Dr. Kavita, shook and troubled by his words and statements and chocked with extremely deceitful emotions retaliated in a befuddling tone, “How are you making me accountable for the offenses not caused by me but another number that I don’t even know is registered in my name and at a far distant place where I don’t even travel.”
The TRAI manager replied, “Please talk to Mumbai police and get the NOC to continue service if you want to avoid disconnection in 2 hours.” On further interactions, he said, “To your ease I can transfer your call to Mumbai police and you can talk regarding the issue and ask them to send a copy of NOC to the fax number: 125 213 294.”
He gave a contact number to save and asked to call and said NOC can be provided on a call request which can be forwarded to TRAI. Karan Verma, impersonating as police officer from Mumbai, who picked the call asked to save a number to receive a video call to verify identity to issue NOC. Karan Verma who rang the first WhatsApp video call was in police uniform, was sitting in an official police setting, and told his batch number 936901 to gain authentication. He said as they require only Kavita’s video, he will switch off the video for further communication and asked her to bring her Aadhar card to attach to the NOC application as they require her photo with Aadhar both sides. It will save a lot of time of hers coming to Mumbai. Karan Verma told Dr. Kavita that an account is opened in her name in Mumbai in which illegal trade like money laundering, and trafficking of women and children is taking place and is linked to sim which is not operational now.
He disclosed, “Money is coming and getting let out on an immediate basis.” Then he showed a passport-size photo of a man and asked her to identify and terrorized her that, “How you could not recognize this person who is the master of the network, please think carefully and recollect if you have met this person anywhere.” He also warned Dr. Kavita not to touch her mobile and be seated there as it could also harm her family and job; they would have to spend nights in the police station.
While his tone was going hard and harsh in identifying the victim to Dr. Kavita, another person came to the room and enquired- “What is the progress on the Sanjeev Kumar case given by the government of India”. It needs to be disposed of urgently; we need to give high priority to cases of a critical nature, quoting “international money laundering and women trafficking.”
Sir, I have completed the investigation with 100 victims, and now enquiring with Dr. Kavita who could not recall her interaction with Sanjeev Kumar. A phone call rang and they started talking about Sanjeev Kumar's case. The person on the other side enquired about the file and Karan Verma said that he is handling another suspect named Kavita, A quick response with an aggressive tone came from the other side, “Please arrest Kavita immediately, this suspect is wanted under the Sanjeev Kumar international money laundering case- Immediately take her into custody.” He asked Dr. Kavita to read aloud a document, “Custody and asset freezing order case RC-49(A)/2024/ ACB/DLI against Dr. Kavita.”, He replied, “Do you understand if you fail to cooperate and do not maintain confidentiality, CBI has the right to take you into custody for a period beyond 6 months as per section 167 of IPC. It is non-bailable and all your assets will be frozen. Do you know the consequences of section 409-criminal breach, and 420- cheating imposed upon you.” Dr. Kavita repeatedly said that they should catch the right criminals and leave her. He said that if he is convinced and finds her innocent during the investigation then he will help her.
“You may leave the room, Officer Karan” – asked Abhinav Thakur.
Abhinav Thakur again repeated the same déjà vu and began talking about Sanjeev Verma. He disclosed that Sanjeev Verma is an international criminal and forces women for labor, housemaid and also sex work and is doing trade of 815 million rupees in different countries. He is operating a fake NGO and has done trade of 518 people (women and children) at different international locations. There are 200 bank accounts and of which one account is in the name of Dr. Kavita opened in Mumbai from which a trade of 21.6 million rupees has taken place and the money belongs to 21 victims. Of these victims, one old lady has also died of depression as her entire savings have been lost.
He further revealed that on 23rd April 2024, Sanjeev Verma has been arrested from his hideout, and 200 bank accounts were recovered from his custody. Sanjeev Verma has accepted that he has personally met each and every account holder and they gave him full consent to open bank accounts in Mumbai. And when your account was shown to him, he said that he received your consent in opening the bank account and he has been giving you commission from the trade as well. He said that he has met you through an intermediary in Delhi. Then he blasted, “How can you say that you don’t know Sanjeev Verma.” After this, he repeatedly started calling Dr. Kavita the suspect for the crime and asked her repeatedly to accept that she knows Sanjeev Verma.
Dr. Kavita was constantly trying to prove her non-connection to the case but in vain. He further went on elaborating the case now with a sympathetic tone, “When we went for the taking details of the CCTV footing to know who opened the bank accounts. We found the CCTV records destroyed as the other people from the bank are suspected to be involved in the crime.”
In addition to the earlier narration, he added that Sanjeev Kumar has retired as a bank manager, he is very witty and has a very good network. But if I am convinced that you are innocent, I will give my full support to save you. After a long to and fro comments and arguments between Abhinav Thakur and Dr. Kavita, he said that this case is being handled by CBI and is of number -2 priority. He will discuss it with his senior officer and can request for priority processing and fund investigation. And if he agrees only then they can gather one evidence in favour of Dr. Kavita justifying that money in her bank account and her assets are by all legal means. Then he enquired about her bank account, savings and asset details. He exclaimed, “Location and travel evidence could not be taken as it is only supporting evidence and could not be shown to court which you are constantly arguing for.” He then asked Dr. Kavita to read aloud a document, “Consent to terms of confidentiality agreement” and superimposed to confirm to it.
He said that he would transfer the call to the CBI officer and asked Dr. Kavita to save one number and request him for priority processing and fund investigation on receiving the call, and “you are required to cut this call when you received another call”. He further warned, “And please note, as he is a senior CBI officer, you need to be polite with him, if you request in right manner, he will provide full support.” He terrorized Dr. Kavita and dictated her an application with the detail of case no 000857 in her name, allowing to apply for priority processing and fund investigation, and with a closing line, “Please give me a chance.”
Another person, Rajesh Gupta spoke as a CBI officer and repeated the same Déjà vu and tortured Dr. Kavita, “If you will not cooperate, we will pick you up from your residence and bring you to the Mumbai police station and will not listen to anything and you will have to stay in jail for 7 years.”
Then he asked Dr. Kavita to come on the Zoom call and only cut the WhatsApp call only when he will ask her after logging in to Zoom. He busted, “Please note down Zoom ID 5436050441 and password 000857 and log in quickly.” He also asked Dr. Kavita not to cut the Zoom call throughout the night and take her mobile wherever she goes and did not allow her to talk to anyone over the phone. He repeatedly asked Dr. Kavita that if she wanted to save herself from 7 years of imprisonment as she did not have any proof to show, she have no option other than to cooperate and they will pull her out of this case in a very short time, only if found innocent.
Then he said he will talk in the morning at 9 am till Dr. Kavita have to put her camera and speaker on as she is under custody. “Please note if you do not cooperate, we will put you in 90 days strict custody in police station without your mobile due to the heinous nature of the crime and you will have to face 7 years of imprisonment. What would be your life be like after 7 years from jail, all your work and job status will be finished? We will try to find out the solution and save you if you are innocent. As we need to break this nexus on request of the government of India, the confidentiality in CBI proceedings needs to be ensured at every step of investigation.”
In the morning from around 6 AM, he started enquiring if she is there and kept warning her not to go anywhere and sit in front of the camera. He kept on repeating the same Déjà vu till 11 am in the morning. Dr. Kavita was on call from 2 pm on 6th December to 11 am on 7th December 2024, stressed, remorseful, and befuddled with the situation.
Then he came with some new documents with her Aadhar no. and asked her to read aloud, “Acknowledgement letter from financial department Delhi crime branch and central bureau of investigation”. He asked Dr. Kavita to save a new number and shared the documents from the new number. He put his call on speaker for some time and conversed regarding her situation and tricking that he has been talking to RBI headquarters and doing her help on a priority basis. The RBI notary director said that there is only one way to verify the funds and provide evidence in the court to prove her innocence i.e. legality of her current assets. Also, if they will contact her home branch for her bank accounts, anyone could get to know and tell “Sandeep” Verma (name changed to Sandeep by the disguised CBI Officer) as he has also retired from SBI and have very strong network.
He asked Dr. Kavita that for RBI verification of funds, she would have to transfer her 95 percent amount into a surveillance account given by RBI which they will return if found legal. They continue to terrorize Dr. Kavita for transferring the amount for fund verification as it is the only way to save her. They forced her to take an early decision to get clear off from the allegations fast.
“Enough is enough, please give me a space to breathe!”- shouted Dr. Kavita and ran off from her room around 11 am on 7th December. Dr. Kavita took the number of a senior colleague from her WhatsApp whom she thought could help. She told the entire episode to her neighbors and family. She came back and disconnected the call and switched off the mobile. She then went to the bank to know if her account is safe. Later she filed a complaint in the cyber-crime cell.
The digital era necessitates to beware of cyber frauds and be wise citizens to spread awareness of the new form of cyber threat- “Digital arrest and digital torture.” The con artist and scammers are finding new ways to exploit fear and technology to trick unsuspecting individuals. The fraudsters impersonate law enforcement or government officials to intimidate victims into paying money or sharing sensitive information.
The role of both the government and society becomes necessary to spread awareness about digital arrest through educational institutions, police agencies, social media, online platforms, TV advertisements, newspapers, radio, and local governance initiatives.
A legislation for “Digital arrest and torture” is the need of the hour as the crime can escalate if stringent controls are not made. A legislation by the government to scan the phone numbers on a regular basis by strengthening the regulatory departments at telecom services would act as a preventive measure for these technology crimes. As a lot of documents such as aadhar cards, PAN cards, photos, and other identity proofs are getting stolen during the digital arrest by terrorizing the innocent people, the originality of these records should be carefully checked so that the fraudulent elements do not open a fake bank account based on these by duping the bank officials. The government should refine the Aadhar card and PAN cards by adding digital security seals and locks so that the print copy of these documents can be easily identified and nullified including a notice to the authentic holder.
All these scams emerge from a phone call or tele-recorded message; hence, the screening of all sim owners is required in a phased manner by the telecom services providers and provide the secure sim status to all mobile users. If the government-led regulatory departments in telecom services such as Airtel, Reliance, etc., take cognizance of scams, and scammers; it would provide a double scrutiny which is the need of the hour. Registration of new sim by the telecom service should be made stricter by verifying the Aadhar details with the NOC from the police records for past mis-use of sim attached to the account. A KYC policy would be useful in creating a database of legible mobile numbers.
A strict punishment for the digital scammers including banning sim cards, blocking their Aadhar ids for a length of time, and imposition of fine needs to be prepared, charted out and publicized clearly along with the structural arrangement for grievance redressal under the national cyber-crime cell. The national cyber-crime reporting portal is functional since 11th Dec 2023 and have received more than 92,323 complaints amounting to a gaffe of INR 2,140.99 crore. Looking at the increasing adversity of crime, it is necessary to catch the fraudulent elements by way of reverse engineering by the police department from where the calls have been received by the cyber victims.
The digital use safety guidelines need to be launched and publicized among all stakeholders though the digital and non-digital means of communication. An awareness needs to be generated among the citizens to be confident if they have not knowingly committed a crime, as the police always approach the right way at the doorstep. There could be a heavy loss of time, money, and assets if the fraudulent elements succeed in their plan.
Legal awareness to the citizen along with a new technological innovation in the form of knowing the location, secure sim status, occupation, age, etc., along with the contact number while receiving the call would help in better identification of unknown numbers. Technology as a medium to beat technology crimes by creating stringent regulations along with understanding and decoding the underlying realities, gravities, forms, and types of cybercrime, would prove to be useful in the long run.
Image 1: Documents by impersonating police officer Karan Verma
Image 2: Documents by impersonating CBI officer Rajneesh Gupta (who is in inset)
