New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed banks, state governments and the police to work in coordination to prevent “digital arrest” and other online financial frauds. The court also asked authorities to explore mechanisms to recover lost money and hand it back to victims.
The fraud, reported to be rising across the country, involves criminals posing as the police, Enforcement Directorate or the CBI and intimidating people through mobile video calls to extort money. The court noted that senior citizens are often targeted, and even well-educated people have fallen victim.
Hearing the matter on its own initiative, a bench led by Chief Justice Suryakant, along with Justices Jaymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, issued a set of directions. It asked the Reserve Bank of India to immediately frame standard guidelines to help banks handle cybercrime-linked transactions, including those routed through blocked or fake accounts, and to circulate them to all banks and send them to all High Courts.
The bench said complaints from cyber-fraud victims must be addressed without delay. Officials were asked to submit state-wise and bank-wise data on grievance redressal, so that the manner in which complaints are being resolved can be assessed.
The court further directed all states and Union Territories to operationalise a new system to quickly retrieve victims’ funds from bank accounts that have been frozen in cyber-fraud cases. It also called for public awareness on how to recover lost money and asked sectoral committees set up by the Centre to consult banks and financial institutions on preventing such fraud and improving recovery methods.
