New Delhi, Oct. 23 -- More than 21,900 complaints of digital arrest fraud involving over Rs.647 crore were registered in the first eight months of 2026 from January 1 to August 31, according to a status report filed by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) before the Supreme Court, which took suo motu cognisance of the menace a year ago.

The court took suo motu cognisance of the matter on October 17, 2025, after receiving a letter from a Haryana-based senior citizen couple who were cheated of over Rs.1 crore by fraudsters posing as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers. The accused kept the couple under digital arrest through WhatsApp calls and vid...