WhatsApp Banned 9400 Accounts Linked To Digital Arrest Scams : MHA Tells Supreme Court

WhatsApp banned 9,400 accounts linked to digital arrest scams and impersonation of law enforcement agencies during an investigation launched in January 2026, as per a status report filed by the Union government in suo motu proceedings in Supreme Court on digital arrest frauds.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has told the Supreme Court that telecom operators, digital platforms and financial regulators have begun implementing a series of measures to tackle “digital arrest” scams, including faster SIM blocking, biometric verification systems and platform-level safeguards by WhatsApp.

The status report was filed by Attorney General for India R Venkatramani on behalf of the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) in a suo motu case concerning victims of digital arrest scams involving forged documents. It places on record steps taken following the Court's directions on February 09, 2026.

A communication by WhatsApp to the Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) constituted pursuant to the Court's order states that it banned 9400 accounts as part of a targeted probe to curb digital arrest scams.

“In direct response to concerns raised by I4C, MEITY and DoT, WhatsApp in January 2026 launched a structured, multi-week dedicated investigation specifically focused on digital arrest scams targeting Indian users. This investigation followed a rigorous methodology: identify seed signals → map networks → enforce against the entire network → build scaled automated defences. 9,400 Accounts Banned Digital arrest / law enforcement impersonation.”

Explaining its enforcement action, WhatsApp that said it expanded beyond specific inputs received from authorities. It stated that out of around 3,800 scam-related accounts flagged under Section 79 IT Act takedown requests, only 17 related to digital arrest scams, but its investigation mapped entire networks and led to 9,400 account bans.

WhatsApp informed the Committee that most such scam operations targeting Indian users originate from centres in Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia, and are run through clusters of accounts and groups with repeated patterns such as common names, reused media and coordinated behaviour.

WhatsApp said it has deployed logo detection systems that match profile photos with databases of law enforcement insignia, along with large language model (LLM) based systems to detect impersonation patterns. It also said it has begun logging display names of reported accounts from January 2026 to improve detection of impersonators.

The platform stated that it maintains a database of known impersonation assets such as profile images, names and descriptions, which is used to identify and act against new accounts reusing such material.

On user protection, WhatsApp said it has introduced warning systems and contextual alerts, including displaying account age for unknown contacts, suppressing profile photos of suspicious numbers, and deploying detection models to flag impersonation patterns during interactions.

It also told the Committee that it is working on implementing SIM binding in compliance with the Department of Telecommunications circular dated November 28, 2025, with full rollout expected in four to six months. It further stated that device-based risk detection systems are already in place and it will explore blocking device IDs involved in such scams to prevent repeated misuse.

On data retention, the platform agreed to retain data of deleted accounts for a minimum of 180 days in accordance with Rule 3(1)(h) of the IT Rules, 2021 to assist law enforcement agencies.

The status report also records that WhatsApp will examine introducing additional user protection features similar to those on Skype, strengthen detection of malicious APK files, and propose safeguards to address prolonged scam calls.

Other Updates in the Status Report

The Department of Telecommunications has informed that the proposed Telecommunications (User Identification) Rules and related framework for a Biometric Identity Verification System (BIVS) will take about three months for notification and six more months for implementation. The system is intended to enable national-level visibility of SIM issuance across operators and prevent misuse of multiple SIM cards. The timeline places full rollout before December 2026.

The Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC), which met on March 12, 2026 under the chairmanship of the Special Secretary (Internal Security), discussed misuse of telecom infrastructure in digital arrest scams, the status report states. It further states that telecom service providers were asked to strengthen subscriber verification, improve traceability of Point of Sale (PoS) agents, and enhance AI-based detection of suspicious calling patterns and SIM usage within three months.

The Committee also examined the feasibility of reducing the time taken to block suspicious SIM cards to two to three hours, noting that frauds often occur within the first few hours of activation, as per the status report.

WhatsApp informed the Committee that it is working on implementing SIM binding in compliance with the DoT circular dated November 28, 2025, with full rollout expected in four to six months.

Case no. – SMW (Crl.) 3/2025

Case title – In Re: Victims of Digital Arrest Related to Forged Documents