The Supreme Court has sought details of the measures that WhatsApp and other digital intermediaries will take to block the digital arrest scam and other cybercrimes in the country.
This direction was given in a suo motu case known as In Re: Victims of Digital Arrest Related to Forged Documents. A bench presided by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Friday, after the hearing on October 29, had requested WhatsApp and like companies to put in their proposals.
The Supreme Court bench that also heard from Justice Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana instructed the intermediaries to send their proposed measures to Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) at the same time.
The issue will be listed for further consideration on November 23.
In the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing WhatsApp, told the court that it had already taken note of a few steps that were taken to address cybercrime. He said he had made some arrests based around 9,400 accounts that have been associated with suspicious activities.
Sibal also told the bench that WhatsApp is developing software that would recognize potentially malicious accounts and alert users to potential dangers. The platform is due to file an affidavit detailing the steps it has taken to counter such scams.
Increasingly, digital arrest scams are a worry in the world of cybercrime, whereby the victim is believed it is being threatened by someone posing as a law enforcement official or government employee, by using fake documents.
In their bid to strengthen measures that can protect consumers from such fraudulent activities, the Supreme Court has stepped up its efforts through intervention in the case.