How a "digital arrest" usually goes. A retired engineer gets a call from someone who says a parcel in his name was stopped at customs. Within minutes the call is "transferred" to a man in police uniform on a video call, with an office and flags behind him. He says the engineer's Aadhaar is linked to a money laundering case and that he is now under digital arrest: he must stay on camera, tell no one, and not leave the room.

Over the next two days he is shown a fake arrest warrant with a court seal and told to move his savings to a "verification account" so the RBI can check it is clean. He is promised the money back within hours of the case closing.

There is no such thing as a digital arrest in Indian law. Police do not question people over WhatsApp video, and no agency asks you to transfer money to prove your innocence. Hang up, call a family member, and report it on 1930.