Digital arrest scams: Supreme Court moots CBI probe; asks States for details of FIRs

The Supreme Court on Monday directed all States to file details of the first information reports (FIRs) registered by them with respect to digital arrest scams.

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi also contemplated handing over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and queried whether the CBI has the resources to handle all cases across the country relating to such scams.

This was after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Bench that the CBI was already dealing with a few such cases.

"CBI is already investigating some of the offences," he said.

"Please find out whether the CBI has the resources to handle all the cases," Justice Bagchi said.

"If they need experts in cyber crime they may tell us," Justice Kant added.

"CBI is taking assistance of cyber crime division of MHA," the SG replied.

"The problem is volume. We have seen this in Ponzi cases. The pressure on CBI was too much then. They wanted to offload some of the cases. are you prepared for an exclusive investigation. And that is the extra outlay you might need," Justice Bagchi said.

The Court eventually said that it wants a uniform probe but will not issue any directions today without hearing States.

Hence, it proceeded to issue notice to all States.

"We are not issuing directions today. We are issuing notice to the states. To ensure there is a uniform investigation," Justice Kant said.

The Court was hearing a suo motu case it had initiated on October 17 to address the growing menace of digital arrest scams across the country.

The matter arose after a senior citizen couple wrote to the Supreme Court last month, stating that they had been defrauded of ₹1.5 crore between September 1 and 16 by scammers impersonating officials of the CBI, IB, and the judiciary. The fraudsters had contacted them through phone and video conferencing, showing forged Supreme Court orders to coerce payment under threat of arrest.

Two FIRs were subsequently registered with the cybercrime branch at Ambala, revealing an organised pattern of such offences targeting senior citizens. The Court took note of media reports suggesting that similar scams had occurred across several States.

Finding the issue to be of national importance, the Bench had on October 17 sought responses from the Central government and the CBI and also requested the assistance of the Attorney General of India.

It had also directed the Haryana Cybercrime police at Ambala to file a status report on the investigation, noting that coordinated efforts of both Central and State authorities were needed to curb the nationwide spread of such scams.

During the hearing today, Additional Advocate General of Haryana told the there have been more FIRs registered over similar crimes and sought time to file details about the same.

The Court allowed the same.

It also directed all other States to file details of such FIRs registered by them.

"Beside the two FIRs, there are some more FIRs pertaining to similar crime (in Haryana). AAG seeks and granted one week time to furnish the details of those FIRs. Meanwhile we issue notice to all the States and UTs with a direction that let details of FIRs registered in their respective states pertaining to the nature of cyber crime relating to digital arrest be furnished. In this regard, no formal counter is required to be filed. Only details of cases may be brought on record," the Court directed.

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