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The State Bank of India (SBI) and its staff are often at the receiving end of criticism and the subject of memes such as 'lunch ke baad aana', but a group of alert employees at an SBI branch in Hyderabad ended up saving a senior citizen from being conned of Rs 13 lakh through 'digital arrest'.
Scamsters had targeted a 61-year-old child specialist, a long-term customer of the bank. The senior citizen was told he was under digital arrest and must not tell anyone about it. The customer reached the bank and told an associate that he wanted to break Fixed Deposits and withdraw the amount.
The associate, Surya Swathi D, noticed that the customer was tense and asked him what was the matter. The customer said he needed to withdraw the amount for personal reasons. Not convinced, the bank associate took him to the manager. Kumar Gaud, the branch manager, said the customer had told them he was planning to buy property. "When asked where he was buying the property, the customer said he had not decided yet. This made us more suspicious," a bank employee said.
The bank staff said they asked the customer to return with a family member. "We denied to transfer the money for three days," an employee said.
On one occasion, the customer entered the branch and did not go to Ms Swathi's kiosk, fearing that she would ask him questions. He headed to another associate, but by then, the branch staff had been alerted about the elderly customer.
On his third visit, the bank connected him to 1930, the national helpline for reporting cybercrime, where he was told that there was nothing called 'digital arrest'. After three days of torture, the elderly customer was convinced that he was on the verge of being spammed and he hung up on the scamster. The customer has told the bank staff that during his visits to the branch, he was on a call with the scamster who kept telling him not to trust the bank staff.
What is 'Digital Arrest'?
'Digital arrest' is a new kind of fraud in which fraudsters tell the target that he or she is under 'digital' or 'virtual' arrest and must remain connected to them over a video or audio call. The target is told that he/she cannot tell anyone else that they are under a 'digital arrest' and the surveillance does not end till the money is transferred to the fraudsters' accounts. Police have stressed in several advisories that there is nothing called 'digital arrest' or 'virtual arrest', but the rise in such incidents shows that the message has not reached a large section. The preferred targets of such fraud are senior citizens who are not very savvy with technology and are easily duped by fraudsters into following their instructions.