With increased awareness, digital arrest cases see a drop in Karnataka

The number of digital arrest cases, where victims are held in “virtual arrest” by fraudsters impersonating law enforcement officers, alleging that victims have been involved in crimes, has come down drastically in Karnataka.

While the State reported 1055 cases in 2024, it reported only 210 cases in seven monthstill the end of July in 2025 , shows data presented by Home Minister G. Parameshwara in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, while responding to a question raised by Mangaluru (South) MLA D. Vedavyas Kamath.

However, a closer analysis of the data shows that while the average money lost in a digital arrest case in 2024 was ₹20 lakh, it has risen to ₹29.5 lakh in cases registered till the end of July in 2025. Significantly, 2025 has recorded two cases where victims of digital arrest fraud ended their lives under pressure from fraudsters - a senior citizen couple in Belagavi and a Bescom employee in Channapatna, a first in the State. 

Growing awareness

Cybercrime police attribute the decreasing number of such cases to rising awareness among people regarding the modus operandi of digital arrest and several proactive measures taken by law enforcement agencies. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself clarified in his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat on October 27, 2024, that no law enforcement agency has the concept of a “digital arrest” in the country, and neither do any agencies question people online.

“In cybercrimes, every modus operandi has a life cycle. As awareness about that particular modus operandi rises, fraudsters look for new ways to defraud people. Initially, digital arrest cases started as courier scam, and fraudsters made several tweaks to the modus operandi and, in the process, came up with the idea of a digital arrest. Now, most people seem to be aware of this fraud. Those who are still falling prey to it are either mostly senior citizens or those who are not exposed and are unaware,” said Raja Imam Qasim P., Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime2), Bengaluru police, overseeing cybercrime probes in the city, which records the highest number of cybercrimes and digital arrest cases in the state.

Proactive measures

“Our coordination with other States like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and some of the States that house cyber crime hotspots has improved, leading to several of these syndicates being busted,” an official said.

The Central Crime Branch (CCB), Bengaluru, has recently busted two SIM box cases, which were converting overseas calls from cyber fraud call centres in Cambodia to local calls to make them more believable. “Most of the cyber fraudsters speak in Hindi. So we carried out a campaign asking people to only speak in Kannada to ensure a communication barrier. This has also worked very well,” a senior police official said.

However, the State police have been able to crack only around 10% of these digital arrest cases and recovered money in around 23% of the cases in both 2024 and 2025. “In cases reported within the golden hour - before the fraudsters have laundered the money stolen from the victim - there are more chances of recovering the swindled money. Delayed reporting creates challenges difficult to surmount,” a senior official said.