Senior cop gets 'digital arrest' call during presser

Some online fraudsters got their target and timing horribly wrong on Sunday after they attempted to 'digitally arrest' a senior police official with an automated call over 'credit card misuse' while he was addressing a press conference in Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

"The caller informed that I had misused my credit card and as a result a case had been registered with Andheri West police station in Mumbai. I was having a press briefing at the time. I was told my bank account would be blocked and was asked to visit the police station in two hours," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) of Indore crime branch Rajesh Dandotia told PTI.

The official said he told the caller he would not be able to make it to Mumbai from Indore at such short notice.

"The caller told me he would be connect me to someone from the police station. He then connected me to another person, who asked me to wait. He said he would talk to his senior officer to see if my statement could be recorded via video call. When he saw me in police uniform, he immediately disconnected the video call," the official narrated.

Dandotia said he asked media persons to record a video so that people can be made aware of such cyber crimes and digital arrest.

Digital arrest is a modus operandi of cyber criminals who threaten a person with arrest, force the person to remain confined in a room while keeping him or her under electronic surveillance and then extort money on the pretext of 'clearing' him or her of charges.