Shatabdi Biswas woke up to a call on a smog-filled December morning in Delhi in 2022. Within the next two hours, despite being no stranger to the internet, she lost nearly all the money her bank accounts held.
The 37-year-old content writer was a victim of a "digital arrest" scam that has caught national attention in recent months. The crime involves a scam artist posing as a law enforcement official, often a police or customs officer, who informs an unsuspecting victim that their identity has been used in illegal activities.
Over the next few hours, the victim is manipulated and kept on a fake "arrest" call until they end up handing over their savings.
Biswas is one among millions to fall for this kind of scam in India.
"What bothered me most was that I had sent them the money myself," she said, sitting in a cafe as she revisited the traumatic morning nearly two years ago.
"That's how expertly they twist your mind beyond reason. They use your fear against you until you send all your money over."
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), a central agency that operates under the Ministry of Home Affairs, reported an average of 7,000 daily cybercrime complaints in just the first four months of 2024.
This includes not just digital arrest scams but also several other types of online frauds, such as job, investment or romance scams and online phishing. Victims are estimated to have lost about 17.5 billion rupees (€192 million, $207 million) as a result.
"What's worrying is that the high rate of complaints is not the full picture. Many don't report it because they aren't aware of procedures, or they're ashamed of getting fooled," said Arun Kumar Verma, an official in the cybercrime department of Delhi police.
'Sorry, this was a scam'
In 2022, an unsuspecting Biswas received an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) call, which directed her to what she believed was the FedEx customer service.
The person on the other end informed her that a package containing marijuana, expired passports, and fake credentials was being sent to Taiwan using her identity.
They even gave her the correct details of her Aadhaar card, an identity document the Indian government issues, which is linked with banking and other digital services.
"They put me in touch with a Mumbai customs officer who had all my details. He even had a Marathi accent. Nothing seemed out of place," Biswas told DW, adding that this kind of elaborate scam was less heard of a couple of years ago.
The fake officer directed her not to speak with anyone else during the "investigation" and spun the web of a crime organization that stole other people's identities to smuggle goods to Taiwan.
"He sent me articles and images with headlines about a criminal named Gerold. He told me there were three accounts under my name being used for illicit activities," she said, "Next thing I know, I was sending him money from my real bank accounts as part of an official procedure to prove I operated them."
After receiving nearly half a million rupees (€5,500) from Biswas, the fake officer said he would call back. "They did call me back. But to say, 'Sorry, this was a scam.'"
Stories like Biswas's have become common. Digital financial frauds saw a five-fold jump between March of 2023 and 2024, with money robbed amounting to about 14.57 billion rupees (roughly €162 million, $175 million), according to data provided by India's central bank.
Why have scams taken India by a storm?
A team of international researchers recently published a World Cybercrime Index, with India ranking 10th on the list, emerging as a hub that "somewhat specializes in scams."
While there is little to no data to clarify why scams have exponentially increased in India, Ridhi Kashyap, a researcher part of the team that created the index, took an educated guess. Kashyap believes digital literacy is lagging behind the digitalization wave sweeping India.
"People are doing important things in their lives on their phones, but digital literacy has not caught up," she told DW
Government policies and the COVID-19 pandemic have catapulted Indian masses towards a quick digitalization of payments and key public infrastructure.
The value of transfers in India made through Unified Payment Interface (UPI), an instant payment system, grew from 1 trillion rupees (€10.9 billion, $11.2 billion) in the financial year 2017-18 to over 200 trillion rupees (around $2.4 trillion) in the financial year 2023-24, according to data released by India's Ministry of Finance.
Women are especially vulnerable to scams, Kashyap said, adding that India has a large digital gender gap. "Women are much less likely to own a mobile phone. When they do own them, they are less likely to have exclusive ownership, and they often rely on family members to help them navigate. This means lower levels of confidence and higher vulnerability," she said.
Another key factor in the Indian context is the large number of young people who are skilled in technical education but lack meaningful employment, Kashyap. "We see this in Russia and Ukraine as well," she said.
Youtuber Jim Browning, who has been hacking into the computers and surveillance systems of professional scam centers mainly in India, said he often asks perpetrators why they scam people.
"The majority say they have no choice. I have seen some of their CVs on their computers. These are well-educated graduates in many cases," Browning, who doesn't use his real name, told DW.
Another glaring reason, according to Browning, is the low rate of law enforcement. "I know there is a lot of corruption. There have been cases where I reported a scam center, and instead of a raid, the opposite happened. The ring leaders have erased the evidence, packed up and left," he said.
Can the scam surge be controlled?
A police station dealing with cybercrime in the capital, New Delhi, was flooded with scared yet hopeful scam victims when DW visited a few days ago.
"This is how it is every day," said a junior officer. "We are flooded with cases and that's even after we transfer the ones involving over 10 million rupees to the headquarters," said the official, who asked not to be named.
In a cabin, senior officer Arun Kumar Verma poured over documents that needed to be signed to release recovered funds to some of the luckier victims.
"Cybercrime is not like a regular burglary. There is no perpetrator present at the crime scene. Just a phone number and an account number which could belong to anyone," he said, explaining how many scammers use proxy bank accounts.
"On the other hand, there is a clear digital trail so I can tell you there are a lot of cases where we successfully retrieve the money," he pointed out.
However, a lack of resources — both personnel and otherwise — poses a serious problem. "We take cases according to the location of the victim's residence. But criminals can sit with phones and laptops anywhere in India, which means traveling for days. We don't have the time for that," Verma said.
The officer also warned of a new wave of investment scams targeting Indians from within the country and abroad.
"Our real problem begins when the money trail leaves the country," Verma said, explaining that this makes recovery far more difficult.
While most scams hinge on the victims' lack of knowledge and fear, this new wave bets on something else: the greed of the victims.
"If you look at the victims of investment scams, it's mostly young, educated people who want to get rich instantly," he said. "Their greed makes them easy targets."
A more careful Shatabdi Biswas still gets scam calls regularly. "Sometimes I pick up the call and yell at them. Take out my frustration," she said.
She now ensures her bank accounts hold only the minimum cash she requires and invests the rest out of reach of scammers. "It's been a lesson."