In a major crackdown on Digital Arrest scams in India, the Meta-owned popular instant messaging platform WhatsApp banned more than 9,400 accounts related to digital arrest scams in the country. According to a report, the action was taken over a 12-week period starting January 2026, the Meta app informed the Supreme Court of India.
As reported by Bar and Bench, the information was shared in court by Attorney General R Venkataramani in a case about the rising number of such scams.
Digital arrest is a scam where fraudsters act like police or government officials to scare people into paying money. They usually contact victims through phone calls or apps like WhatsApp or Signal and falsely say the person is involved in serious crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering or illegal parcels.
The scammers create panic by threatening arrest or legal action. In many cases, they keep the victim on a video call for hours and control the situation -- this is what they call 'digital arrest.' They also tell the victim not to talk to family or friends.
However, there is no such thing as a digital arrest. Police in our country do not arrest anyone over phone or video calls. This is only a trick used by fraudsters to create fear and pressure.
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According to thereport, WhatsApp said many of these scam accounts were being run from Southeast Asia, mainly Cambodia.
The social app also worked closely with Indian agencies like the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and the Department of Telecommunications during the investigation.
The report further mentioned that while government agencies had initially flagged around 3,800 accounts, WhatsApp’s internal systems helped uncover a much bigger network, leading to thousands more bans.
To tackle such frauds, the Meta-owned app has introduced new safety tools. It has also created a database of scam-related content to quickly catch repeat offenders.
Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now
