NEW DELHI: In suo motu proceedings on digital arrest fraud cases, the Supreme Court was informed by the Union of India that WhatsApp banned 9,400 accounts linked to digital arrest scams and impersonation of law enforcement agencies during an investigation launched in January 2026.
Earlier, a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, which had taken suo motu cognisance of online frauds, including digital arrests, had issued directions asking the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), and others to jointly hold a meeting to create an effective framework for compensation in digital arrest cases.
The status report was filed by Attorney General for India R Venkatramani on behalf of the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) in the suo motu case concerning victims of digital arrest scams involving forged documents. It placed on record the steps taken following the Court’s directions on February 09, 2026.
"Telecom operators, digital platforms and financial regulators have begun implementing a series of measures to tackle digital arrest scams, including faster SIM blocking, biometric verification systems and platform-level safeguards by WhatsApp," the MHA submitted to the top court.
The report said that in response to concerns raised by I4C, MeitY and DoT, WhatsApp in January 2026 launched a structured, multi-week investigation focused on digital arrest scams targeting Indian users.
"This investigation followed a rigorous methodology: identify seed signals → map networks enforce against the entire network build scaled automated defences. 9,400 Accounts Banned Digital arrest / law enforcement impersonation," the MHA highlighted in its status report.
Explaining the action taken by WhatsApp, the Union government said it expanded beyond specific inputs received from authorities.
"Out of around 3,800 scam-related accounts flagged under Section 79 IT Act takedown requests, only 17 related to digital arrest scams, but its investigation mapped entire networks and led to 9,400 account bans," MHA stated.
WhatsApp informed the committee that most such scam operations targeting Indian users originate from centres in Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia, and are run through clusters of accounts and groups with repeated patterns such as common names, reused media and coordinated behaviour, the report added.
"A communication by WhatsApp to the Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) constituted pursuant to the Court's order states that it banned 9400 accounts as part of a targeted probe to curb digital arrest scams," the MHA said.
Following directions from the CJI-led bench, the CBI is already probing the nationwide digital arrest scam in which many people lost crores of rupees.
