The ever-increasing cases of digital arrest are a matter of concern for people. Due to this new trick of scammers, common people are facing many problems financially and emotionally. The recent incident with famous social media influencer Ankush Bahuguna has made the issue of digital arrest even more worrying.

According to the information received from Ankush, the thugs harassed him for about 40 hours. Today we are going to tell you in detail about this incident that happened with Ankush so that you become alert about these matters in advance.

How did Ankush Bahuguna fall into the clutches of scammers?

Ankush told about the incident that happened with him that he was missing from social media and other places because he was digitally arrested by some scammers. Ankush told that he received a call from an international number, which he received without thinking. This whole sequence started with a normal call which was for a package delivery. Ankush did not realize that he would get into such trouble just by picking up the call.

On the call, he was told that one of his packages has been cancelled, after which he was put on another call, where the caller told that the Customs Department has seized his package due to illegal goods. Hearing this, Ankush got scared and the fraudsters took advantage of this. He said in the shared video,

Received threat to cooperate

Alarmed by this, Ankush denied having any knowledge of the package but was then told that he would have to talk to the police to settle the matter. The scammers assured him that there was no time to go to the police station right now. He was being connected directly to a police officer.

The officer on the video call, who seemed official, began questioning him, accusing him of being involved in money laundering, drug trafficking and other serious crimes. The officer told him,

What is digital arrest?

Digital arrest is a type of online scam in which scammers call the victim pretending to be police, CBI, ED, Customs, Income Tax or Narcotics officers and then accuse them or their close ones of being involved in some illegal activities. After this, the scammers demand an immediate video call citing settlement of the matter and arrest and torture the victim over the call or video call. After this, they are pressured to pay a 'fine' to avoid "arrest" by showing fake IDs or court documents.

To avoid this, first of all you need to know that genuine and legal government agencies do not use platforms like WhatsApp or Skype for any kind of official conversation or arrest. Therefore, you have to be alert beforehand when you receive such calls. If you receive any suspicious call on your phone, you have to immediately report it to your local police or the National Cyber ​​Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in).

Exposed with the help of friends

He was so disturbed that he was not able to understand anything. Ankush further told that the officers kept him in self-custody for a time period. He was threatened not to talk or contact his family and friends for 40 hours. Ankush said, 'They completely isolated me. I could not talk to anyone, could not pick up calls, or even see messages. They claimed that I was in self-custody and whatever I did could be used against me.

During this time, his friends and family members started noticing something different in his behaviour. Initially, he was successful in convincing everyone that he was completely normal and was behaving like this just because he was busy. But after some time, he came to know through one of his friends that a new scam called Digital Arrest is spreading rapidly at this time. After this, he was able to come out of this scam.