Digital Arrest is the New Scammer Scare Tactic

Newest tactic in digital arrest

Scammers love making people emotional. Whether you’re scared, excited, or in love, feeling strong emotions makes it harder for our brains to be logical. That means it’s harder for us to spot the signs that they’re scamming us. So they keep coming up with new ways to make targets feel strong emotions. Their newest tactic is a digital arrest. They’ve already used it to scam millions of dollars from people in India – and it’s starting to make its way around the world.

What makes it even more complicated is that digital arrests are a real thing! But a genuine digital arrest doesn’t look anything like the scammers’ version. They often target young people, government workers, immigrants, and others who would be especially afraid of getting in legal trouble, but anyone can be a target. Here’s what you need to know and what you should look out for.

Legitimate Digital Arrests

Law enforcement officials sometimes do digital arrests along with regular arrests. Digital arrests control or stop someone’s online data. This may be done to someone where law enforcement has enough probable cause to get a warrant, but they want to collect more evidence to prosecute. Or it could be done to prevent other attacks. Most often, it’s done in conjunction with a regular arrest. Authorities freeze the suspected criminal’s online data, then take them to jail.

Just like with a regular arrest, nobody calls the suspected criminal to tell them they’re under digital arrest. And there’s no fee they can pay to get out of it. This is pretty much the opposite of how scammers claim it works.

Digital Arrest Scams

In a digital arrest scam, the scammer pretends to be a law enforcement officer, a tax official, a government official, or someone else with similar authority. They call you on the phone or with a video call, usually spoofing the number to make it look legitimate. They use titles that sound official and lots of jargon to trick you. Sometimes they get your information from people search sites, social media, or the dark web to make you think they have official sources. Then they claim that you’re somehow linked to a crime. Often the crime is digital, like hacking or money laundering.

Maybe you’re a suspect, or maybe your account or phone number just came up in an investigation. Whatever the story, they tell you that you’re now under digital arrest. They say that means you can’t hang up the call, talk to anyone else about it, or move from your location. Often they claim that they are also freezing your accounts or cutting off your internet access. They want to scare you.

Then they tell you there’s a way out. If you pay a settlement, bond, or fee, they’ll let you out of the arrest. (Less commonly, they may instead suggest that they would accept a bribe to let you go.) It’s usually a lot of money. But they’re counting on you being so scared that you’ll pay anyway. They ask for methods like gift cards, cryptocurrency, wire transfers, or apps like Venmo or Zelle. Once you pay them, you’re “set free” – from an arrest that wasn’t real in the first place.

Spot a Digital Arrest Scam

It’s pretty easy to spot a digital arrest scam – if anyone tells you you’re under digital arrest, it’s a scam. Just like fake arrest warrant scams, nobody’s going to call and tell you you’re under arrest. If they really had a warrant to arrest you, the police would just show up at your home or workplace and arrest you. And if you were really under digital arrest, they wouldn’t want you to know they were watching.

If you get genuinely arrested, you are often allowed to pay a bond to be temporarily released while you wait for your court date. But you can’t pay to prevent being arrested. And no legitimate law enforcement agency would want you to pay your bail with gift cards, cryptocurrency, or apps like Venmo or Zelle. In fact, many localities only accept these kinds of payments as cash or cashier’s check. And many times they will make you deliver the payment to a government building in person.

Sometimes scammers make a strong effort to “prove” they’re really law enforcement or a government official. They may wear a uniform – either fake or AI-generated – in a video call. Sometimes they tell you to go to a fake verification website, or even email or text you their badge info. A real officer won’t ever send you their badge info like that – it’s against their rules. And a real officer will never threaten you or use abusive language if you don’t comply. If they start threatening you or yelling at you, they’re really a scammer.

How to Avoid Digital Arrest Scams

The first step is always to stay calm. If you get the call, don’t panic. Very few legitimate things are so urgent that you can’t take a few minutes to breathe, gather your thoughts, and verify before responding. And remember that calls about being under digital arrest are always scams. You can safely hang up.

First, verify their information. Ask what agency they’re with, their name, their department, and their badge number. Then tell them you’re going to hang up and call back. You can tell them that you’ve heard of people impersonating officers to do a scam, so you want to verify. A real officer or government agent will give you their information and tell you how to reach them again. If they don’t want to give you identifying information or threaten you not to hang up, it’s a scam.

Then look up your local police or government agency office’s number and call them directly. The person on the phone may have given you a number to call, but don’t use it. Ask the person you talk to if the person really works for them and if you really have a digital arrest warrant. They’ll be able to confirm for you.

Also beware of other common signs that show up here, too. If they ask for a payment, it’s a scam. Should they tell you that you can’t talk to anyone about it, it’s a scam. If they want you to stay on the call constantly, it’s a scam. And if you’re feeling any strong emotion, be cautious. Work hard to verify what you can. And no matter what they tell you, you can tell the situation to someone else and ask if it sounds weird to them.

Report the Scam!

If you encounter a digital arrest scam, you can report it. And you can still report it even if you recognize it’s a scam right away and don’t lose any money to it. Reporting scams is crucial for multiple reasons:

It helps law enforcement and scam-fighting agencies track, catch, and prosecute scammers.
It lets law enforcement know how big the problem is so they can allocate more resources to stopping it.
If someone eventually catches the scammers, you have a record of being a victim and may get some of your lost money back.
Reports help raise awareness so the scammers catch fewer people with their tricks.

We have a Scam Report Preparation Guide that can help you prepare for the reporting process. Mostly, reports want as much detail as you have. Dates, any names or information they gave you (even if fake), numbers they called from, the story they told you, how they wanted paid, and any other information you can remember could be helpful.

If the scammer was pretending to be from a particular agency, like the IRS or a specific police department, report it to them. They take impersonation reports very seriously. You should also report it to your local police, the FBI at ic3.gov, the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, and your state’s Attorney General. All of this will help law enforcement fight scams and fraud.

Credit: WhatIsMyIPAddress