The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Central government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a suo motu case initiated over the rise of ‘digital arrest scams’ across India.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi today expressed that it was aghast that the fraudsters behind such scams often use forged court orders to trick people into parting with their money.
The Court has also sought the assistance of the Attorney General of India in the matter.
“Ordinarily, we would have directed the state police to expedite the investigation and take it to the logical conclusion. We are, however, aghast that the fraudsters have fabricated multiple judicial orders in the name of the Supreme Court of India, including a freeze order dated 1st September, purportedly issued under the PMLA, bearing forged signatures of a judge, an officer of ED, and a court stamp also," it said.
The Court added that using fake court orders strikes at the very foundation of the public trust held by the judiciary, and has the be viewed seriously.
"Various fictitious proceedings before the Bombay High Court and false claims of investigation by CBI and ED (were also used by fraudsters). The forgery of documents and the brazen criminal misuse of the name, seal and judicial authority of this court and the High Court is a matter of grave concern. Judicial orders with fake signatures of judges strikes at the very foundation of the public trust system on the judiciary. Such grave criminal acts cannot be treated as an orderly or routine offence of cheating or cyber crime," the Court held.
Digital arrest scams refer to a kind of online fraud where cybercriminals impersonate law enforcement or government officials, like the police or CBI, to intimidate victims and to pressure them into parting with money.
Often, the victims are falsely made to believe that they have run into trouble with the law and that they would need to pay hefty monetary penalties to close legal proceedings against them.
The Court took judicial notice of the issue following a complaint sent to it last month by a senior citizen couple, who were defrauded of their life savings through a digital arrest scam carried out between September 1-16.
The victims said that they were contacted by persons impersonating as CBI, IB, and judicial authorities through video conferencing platforms (VC) and telephones. The fraudsters displayed forged orders of the Supreme Court through WhatsApp and VC.
Under the threat of arrest through those forged documents, the couple was coerced into transferring ₹1.5 crores through multiple bank transactions.
The Court today noted that two first information reports (FIRs) were registered at the cyber crime branch at Ambala, which indicated a pattern of organised criminal activities targeting senior citizens.
"The instant case is not a solitary instance. It has been largely reported many times on the media that such incidents have taken place in different parts of the country," the Court observed.
Therefore, stern action is required on a pan-India basis with coordinated efforts of the Central and State police. Accordingly, the Court has sought the response the the Central government and the CBI in the matter, apart from asking the Haryana government's cybercrime department at Ambala to respond.
Further, the Bench has sought a status report from the Haryana Cybercrime police at Ambala on the investigation so far into the case filed by the senior citizens who had written to the Court.
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