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Attack file · Fake police

There is no such thing as a digital arrest.

A man in uniform video calls your father. He says a parcel in his name was found with drugs in it. He says a case is open, that the call must not be cut, and that telling the family would make things worse. None of it is real, and all of it works.

K By the KnownSquare team 5 min read
There is no such thing as a digital arrest.What arrivesSir, a parcel in your name has beenseized. Do not disconnect thiscall. Do not speak to anyone untilwe verify your accounts.2He shows a uniformon video, withpapers that haveyour name on them3You stay on the callfor hours, alone,because he says youmust4You move the moneyto prove it isclean, he saysIt ends here, the moment you tell one other persontheir move
The orange chip is the caller's move, travelling until something stops it. Nothing after the second step can happen to a person who has told somebody else what is going on.

What happens

The call starts politely, and he knows your name. Maybe part of an old document number too. That one true detail is what makes the rest sound possible.

Then a uniform on video, a desk, papers with your name typed on them. Then the only part he actually came for: move your money to an account he names, so it can be checked, and it will be back tomorrow.

Why it works

  • He borrows a uniform. Anyone can buy one, print a warrant and sit in front of a plain wall. On a small screen it is enough.
  • He keeps you alone. Do not hang up, do not tell your son. This is not a rule from any law. It is the whole trick.
  • Fear does the rest. Doctors and retired bankers lose everything to this. After two hours of fear, a strange request starts to sound like the way out.

The moment it stops

The moment he says tell nobody. Everything before that can be checked. Everything after it happens to somebody who is on their own.

Anyone who tells you not to tell your family has just told you what they are.

Simply not true, whatever they say

  • No police force anywhere arrests people over a video call.
  • Nobody in a real investigation asks you to move money to prove it is clean.
  • No law says you must stay on a call or keep it secret from your family.

If it already happened

Speed matters more than anything, because money can sometimes be held before it moves onward. The first hour is worth more than the next week.

  • 1
    Call your bank on the number printed on your card

    Never a number given to you. Say the words fraudulent transfer, which is what starts a recall.

  • 2
    Report it the same day

    India: helpline 1930 and cybercrime.gov.in. United States: ic3.gov and reportfraud.ftc.gov. United Kingdom: Action Fraud, or 101. Elsewhere: your national police non emergency line.

  • 3
    Keep everything

    Screenshots, account numbers, phone numbers, transaction references, times. Dull to collect, and the only thing that makes a report actionable.

  • 4
    Tell your family that day

    Shame is what keeps people quiet, and quiet is what lets the same crew come back in three months with a different story.

What KnownSquare changes about this one

The honest answer

What we remove: Everything except the call itself arrives as messages: the warrant, the letterhead, the account number, the second officer who takes over. All of it comes from a stranger, and here a stranger has no way to send you anything. Nothing lands, so there is nothing to believe.

What we do not touch: We are not the phone network. If somebody rings your mother and frightens her, no app stops that, including ours. And if she is talked into opening her banking app herself, nothing we build gets in the way.

On an open networka stranger can message youthe warrant, the seal and theaccount number all arriveOn KnownSquarea stranger has no address for youso the paperwork that makesthis believable never landsit never arrives
The same attempt, on a network anyone can reach into and on one they cannot.

Sources and further reading

  1. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, on government impersonation
  2. US Federal Trade Commission, imposter scams
  3. India, Ministry of Home Affairs: 1930 and cybercrime.gov.in
  4. UK Action Fraud and the National Cyber Security Centre

Published 19 August 2026. Last reviewed 19 August 2026. Scam scripts change; if you have seen a version that differs from this, write to [email protected] and we will update the file and say that we did.

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