I came across a rather long video of the celebrated social media influencer - Ankush Bahuguna - yesterday, where he shared how he became the victim of the widely popular scam of Digital Arrest, and that he was thankful to his friends and family who helped him get out of it, and the mental stress that he went through. While I am sorry for him and have complete sympathy, I am baffled by how stupid some young, educated people can be! I know, I am sounding rude, but he has several followers, he has earned his way up in the domain of social media ‘influencers’, he has earned his money by his talent (I think so), and yet, he fell for such a stupid trick. Having said that, yes, I think it was extremely brave and thoughtful of him to share his detailed ordeal on his social media page, knowing very well that people will troll him royally for falling into this trap.
I stopped watching his video the moment he said, “I got a call from a very ‘suspicious International Number’. It was an automated call that mentioned that my parcel had been canceled. Press 0 to know more. Although I had not sent any parcel, I still went ahead to press 0 just out of my curiosity for what this parcel thing is all about.” That’s it. Btw, I went ahead to watch the complete video today.
So many red flags, and yet he went ahead to press 0!
- Suspicious International Number
- Automated call
- He has not sent any parcel, which was stated to be canceled
I will come up with a detailed blog about some of the common scams these days and what red flags to watch out for, but this would not be the first of such blogs. Several such documents, videos, notices, and even news of the cases are available. If only people kept their minds open. The world is no more for ‘well-wishers’.
In his case, even before he was put on the digital arrest, there were several points where he could have saved himself.
To start with, a suspicious International Number. First and foremost, rely on your gut feeling. If it is suspicious, don’t pick it up. I know of Airtel, which shows Suspected Spam or Potential Fraud for some of the numbers. I outrightly reject them. I once called Urban Company for a job at home, and the servicing person called me to know the exact location. But his number was being shown as Suspected Spam. After 3-4 tries, he used the Urban Company app to send me a message that he was calling me to know the location.
Bottom line: if someone is genuinely calling you, s/he will find some way to reach out to you. Scammers would keep on calling you every day till you pick up their call.
Secondly, an automated call mentioned that his parcel was canceled when he knew that he had not sent any parcel. That’s it. If you have not sent a parcel and are not expecting any parcel, no need to know more about it. If it is indeed somehow your parcel, actual people would reach out to you and not an automated call.
The most important common-sense point: Do you think our law enforcement agencies, like the police or CBI, would send an automated call to a criminal? NEVER.
Further, he still went ahead to press 0, and then the customer care kept on insisting that it was his package and shared several personal details, and finally connected him to some officers wearing police uniforms, and his regular call became a WhatsApp call. Again, he especially being a social media influencer must know that his several personal details are available online. To anybody. Even though I am not a celebrity, my digital presence has made my details available. It should not come as a surprise if someday my house-help comes and tells me my Aadhaar number or my bank account number. These details are easily available if someone wants to know. Again, if his ‘parcel’ contained illegal things, the police will not reach out to him via an automated call, then wait for him to press 0 to know more, talk to customer care, and then reach out to the police via a WhatsApp call. They will come to his door with a warrant.
He was told to ‘cooperate’ and put under digital arrest, where he was to be in front of the camera for every single minute for the next 40 hours and switch off every gadget in his home.
My strongest suggestion to everyone: in such cases, you agree to cooperate and ask them for the police station or the office where they are working, and tell them that you want to file an FIR for misuse of your identification. I am 99.9% sure that they will disconnect the call or let you go, as they are not the actual police. If at all, they tell you to come to a particular address, make sure to check if that is a real police station or not (use the Internet now), and collect as many trustworthy friends of yours as you can and visit the nearest police station. He was told that if he tried to contact anyone or respond to any calls or messages, he and his family would be harmed - this is not how the judiciary works if they really want to help you.
After watching his entire video, I can say that he got several red flags during these 40 hours, which could have told him that he is being scammed, but he just got paranoid. That is very much possible once you get to start talking to them and they can ‘see’ you because they can start playing mind games very easily. He mentioned that while he was on digital arrest, they could see him, but their cameras were off. Red flag.
If you have done nothing wrong or illegal and your identification has actually been misused, you have every right to walk into the police station and lodge a complaint instead of getting help in the form of a digital arrest. As soon as you start talking, don’t start acting like a criminal. That’s what I meant by trusting your gut. If you are not wrong, ask for information and press on to the meeting personally. These gangs operate from remote areas and most probably won’t allow meetings. If at all, they are smarter con-groups and have actually set up some office, first walk into the nearest police station to confirm the address, and take it from there.
The world is full of fraud, and AI and technology are being rampantly used for the wrong reasons. To summarize, never pick up a suspected spam or fraud number. If at all you pick it up, if the topic is not relevant to you, disconnect immediately instead of ‘finding more’ or talking more to tell that you are not interested, etc. If at all you get connected by someone and they allege you or your immediate known of some crime, insist on meeting them and lodging a police FIR, as you know that you have done nothing wrong. If it is about your family member, immediately contact them by another call or disconnect this call and talk to that family member. Be aware of such scams. Going through reels and fun stuff on social media is cool, but there is a big, bad world outside your phone. Keep yourself updated. Take care, folks!
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