In consideration of the continuous threat of cybercrime, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday flagged the issue of how fraudsters target people through ‘digital arrests’. He further clarified that no govt agency has the power to threaten individuals over the phone and arrest digitally or charge money.
On sunday it was the 115th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ program where the PM detailed the model and procedure of the scam and explained how to handle it when somebody gets such call or cheated.
PM suggested that in case of receiving such call, one need not to be afraid. He also insisted people to be aware about working procedure of investigating agency and warned people that no conducts or such interrogations over the phone or video call is valid. Mr Modi told that the three steps to digital security are: stop, then think and then act about any happening. He also insisted about taking a screenshot or record the call. No govt agency issues threats over the phone or demands money,” he mentioned, adding that investigating agencies works in partnership with state government to come out of the scam prevailing under the name of ‘digital arrest’. He insisted on the word awareness and asked people to stay aware and spread awareness to others about same.
Pm Modi suggested that as soon as one get such call, they should stop and not panic, stay calm, and not take any hasty steps, or give away personal information to anyone. Also if possible, taking a screenshot and recording it for future is important. That means first stop and then think. The third step is to take action about it by dialling national cyber helpline 1930 or report such incident on cybercrime.gov.in
Talking to True To Life Medha Sharma who is a student of Persian Language in JNU stated about an incident where she got a call and the person was saying that we have received a parcel containing drugs and that she is under digital arrest for same. Earlier she was taking it lightly, but then the fraudster acted like some investigative officer, showcasing all documents regarding same. She then got scared and was confused about what steps to be taken because fraudster had lots of information about her. When she requested to not arrest her digitally, then they asked her to switch to video call and then later some amount of money was demanded. Since she didn’t had enough amount with her and it was a huge cash demanded, she thought to talk to her parents and later they understood about the scam going on.
Digital arrest is indeed a serious topic prevalent in today’s world. All we need to do is bring awareness about same to people who somehow get to face this and comes under the talk of fraudster.