New Delhi, The Supreme Court has taken a very tough stance on the rapidly increasing cases of ‘digital arrest’ scams and cyber fraud across the country. The Supreme Court has issued comprehensive directions to eradicate this web of cyber crimes. The court has ordered the Reserve Bank of India to prepare a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on ‘mule accounts’ within the next 4 weeks, so that illegal financial transactions can be curbed. A special bench of Chief Justice Suryakant, Justice Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana has given strict instructions to the Central Government, all States, Union Territories and RBI to take concrete and immediate steps in this direction:
The Supreme Court has directed all states to strengthen the system for registering complaints of cyber fraud and getting immediate refund of the money of the victims, and to make it mandatory to adopt the e-Zero FIR system. The states and the police have been asked to effectively implement the complaint redressal and money recovery system prepared under the SOP of the Ministry of Home Affairs dated January 2. The court has urged the central government to seriously consider the framework for liability in cyber crimes and providing adequate compensation to the victims.
-
Relief in statistics: Big drop in digital arrest complaints
According to the fourth status report submitted to the court by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, there has been a significant reduction in digital arrest scams due to proactive efforts by cyber security agencies. The number of digital arrest complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal was 1,23,672 in the year 2024, which has come down to 58249 in the year 2025. During the period ending on 30 June 2026, these complaints have come down to just 16377, indicating a major success of the cyber cell.
-
Rs. 18.05 crore returned to the victims
According to the report, with the cooperation of 57 banks across the country and all states and union territories, a total of 36290 incidents of lost money have been successfully recovered, totaling Rs. 18.05 crore. Not only this, the Central Bureau of Investigation has also taken strict action in digital arrest cases, conducting large-scale search operations at 93 locations in 16 states and identifying 67 first-tier bank accounts.
-
The court’s next important instructions
Account Freezing Matters: Appropriate steps will be taken to expeditiously resolve the issue of unjustified freezing of bank accounts due to cyber fraud.
Control over Telecom Services: The bench has directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Department of Telecom and I4C to examine the feasibility of the proposal to impose time-based restrictions on audio and video calls and submit a brief report.
Public Awareness Campaign: Legal Service Committees will conduct public awareness campaigns on cyber security and to avoid digital arrest.
The Supreme Court has sought an updated status report from all the relevant authorities in this matter, and the next hearing of this case will be held on September 16.