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Lost money to a scam? Call 1930 now, then report at cybercrime.gov.in

Scam Awareness

Got a Suspicious Call From Police? We Verify It Free

Digital arrest scams are surging across India. How to identify fake police calls, protect yourself, and verify suspicious contacts for free.

By Sai Samarth & Ashok Kamat Updated

You get a call. The person claims to be from a government agency. They already know your personal details. They say you’re under investigation, and if you hang up, you’ll be arrested.

A Bengaluru woman believed them for 6 months.

Here’s how to know if that call is real.

Callers Claiming to Be Cyber Police? Don’t Respond Until You Verify

Late last year, a 57-year-old software engineer in Bengaluru’s Indiranagar lost ₹31.83 crore in a digital arrest scam (Telangana Today). The callers claimed to be CBI officials. They kept her under constant watch on Skype for over six months. They made her transfer money 187 times.

They said: “Don’t tell anyone. Don’t disconnect. Cooperate or face arrest.”

There was no investigation. No case. No CBI. Only fear.

Over the 45 months to 2025, Bengaluru recorded more than 53,000 cyber crime cases and losses of around ₹4,341 crore, with digital arrest among the fastest-growing categories (The420.in).

This is not rare. This is happening here.

What Victims Tell Us

“They spoke politely. That’s why I trusted them.”

“They already knew my Aadhaar details.”

“I was scared and didn’t want police trouble.”

“By the time I understood, I was too embarrassed to tell anyone.”

You’re not alone. These scams are designed to bypass logic, not intelligence.

Not Sure If That Call Is Real?

Send us a screenshot, recording, number, or details. We’ll verify it and tell you what to do next.

No charges. No judgment.

What Happens When You Contact Us

  • We do not report you to the police
  • We do not ask for documents or payments
  • We do not interrogate or judge
  • We only verify whether it’s real or a scam

What Real Police Don’t Do

  • Investigate via video calls
  • Ask for money to “verify” you
  • Threaten arrest unless you pay immediately
  • Tell you to hide this from family

Police may contact people for investigation purposes, but arrests, payments, and investigations are not conducted over continuous phone or video calls.

If any of the above happened to you, it’s a scam.

Already Responded or Paid?

  1. Take screenshots
  2. Preserve call logs, messages, and payment details
  3. Contact us and we’ll guide you on next steps

Who We Are

ScamNextStep is a free scam-awareness service run from Bengaluru. We help people verify suspicious calls, messages, links, apps, and impersonation attempts before they turn into financial or legal damage.

We are not police. We don’t interrogate. We verify.

Disclaimer: This guide is for public awareness only. ScamNextStep is an independent public-awareness resource and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any police force, investigative agency, or government department. Verification is best effort guidance, not legal or law enforcement advice. For emergencies or legal reporting, always contact official authorities.

Report it, and how to check something first

Report to the official channels first. They are the only ones who can freeze an account or open an investigation:

  • 1930: the National Cyber Crime Helpline, 24/7. Reporting speed is the single biggest factor in getting money back, because banks can sometimes freeze a mule account within hours.
  • cybercrime.gov.in: file the formal complaint.
  • sancharsaathi.gov.in: report the number or sender (Chakshu).
  • 112: police emergency.

Not sure yet whether it is a scam? Send it to ScamNextStep and we will tell you what it is, free:

What we do is check the open record and tell you what it shows: when a domain was registered, who really publishes an app, whether a company exists, where a photo came from. We are not police: we cannot compel anyone, freeze an account, or recover money that has already gone. We will never ask you for money, OTPs, documents or remote access. If money has already moved, call 1930 first, a bank freeze is faster than we are.