WhatsApp Bans 9,400 Accounts in India Over Digital Arrest Scams

WhatsApp has banned more than 9,400 accounts associated with “digital arrest” scams in India during a 12-week crackdown starting January 2026, the Attorney General informed the Supreme Court of India.

The disclosure comes as the apex court continues suo motu proceedings into a growing number of fraud cases where scammers impersonate law enforcement and judicial officials to extort money from victims using fake arrest threats.

According to submissions made by Attorney General R. Venkataramani, the Meta-owned platform conducted a targeted investigation in coordination with multiple government bodies. These include the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and the Department of Telecommunications.

The probe revealed that a large number of scam operations targeting Indian users were being run from organised centres in Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia. Fraudsters typically used misleading display names such as “Delhi Police,” “CBI,” or “ATS Department,” along with official-looking logos, to appear legitimate.

WhatsApp has introduced several new enforcement tools to counter such activity. These include a logo-matching system to detect impersonation, tracking of account display name and deployment of a large language model trained to identify evolving scam tactics. The platform has also built a repository of known scam assets to identify repeat offenders more efficiently.

The company emphasised that it does not treat government alerts as isolated complaints but uses them as starting points to identify and dismantle broader criminal networks. While agencies initially flagged around 3,800 accounts, WhatsApp’s internal systems enabled a much wider crackdown, leading to action against thousands more linked profiles and assets.

The enforcement drive targeted not just primary operators but also accounts promoting scams through groups and channels, along with those sharing common behavioural and technical patterns such as reused media or overlapping infrastructure.

In addition to enforcement, WhatsApp is rolling out product-level safeguards to prevent fraud at the first point of contact. These include alerts for suspicious first-time messages, visibility into the age of unknown accounts, suppression of profile photos in high-risk interactions, and improved caller identification for unknown numbers.

Despite these measures, the company noted that many scams rely on external infrastructure such as payment channels and international criminal networks. It stressed that dismantling such operations requires coordinated action across jurisdictions.

The Supreme Court initiated suo motu proceedings in October 2025 after a senior citizen couple reported losing Rs 1.5 crore to fraudsters posing as officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation, Intelligence Bureau, and the judiciary. The scammers allegedly used forged court orders and video calls to coerce payments under threat of arrest.

Taking note of similar incidents across multiple states, the Court directed the CBI to investigate and called for a coordinated national response involving various agencies.

During the hearings, several additional developments were presented. The CBI has re-registered three major cases involving losses exceeding ₹10 crore, including one from Delhi where a single victim lost Rs 22.92 crore.

The Reserve Bank of India has proposed new guidelines on limiting customer liability in digital fraud cases. Under the draft framework, victims losing up to ₹50,000 in fraudulent transactions may receive compensation of up to 85% of the loss or Rs 25,000, whichever is lower, subject to certain conditions.

Meanwhile, the Department of Telecommunications stated that its proposed biometric verification system for SIM issuance is still under development and may not be fully operational before December 2026. Authorities have also directed telecom operators to reduce the time taken to block suspicious SIM cards to just 2–3 hours.

Officials highlighted that nearly 80–82% of mule bank accounts used in such frauds remain active for less than a day, underlining the need for real-time preventive action.

Additionally, the RBI’s Integrated Ombudsman Scheme will increase compensation limits from July 1, 2026, raising the cap for financial losses to Rs 30 lakh and Rs 3 lakh for mental harassment per complaint.

The case remains under active consideration as the Supreme Court evaluates measures to curb the rising threat of digital arrest scams across India.