Indian influencer falls victim to ‘digital capture’ scam.

Instagram influencer Ankush Bahuguna has broken his silence on the reasons behind his absence from social media for the past few days. It was because he was being held hostage by crooks virtually. You read that right. Bahuguna was tricked into secluding himself from the world for forty hours because of a “rampant” scam that put him under house arrest.

“I’m still in a bit of shock. I’ve lost money, I’ve lost my sanity from this and I can’t believe this happened to me,” he shared in a reel on his handle , admitting that he’s prone to such scams.

“Yesterday, I got a call after I went to the gym from a very strange number – some international number. I just picked it up without thinking too much and it was an automated call saying, ‘The courier delivery has been cancelled. Press 0 for support.’ I pressed 0 because I was curious,” he recalls.

Bahuguna called this response the “biggest mistake” of his life. A fraudulent customer support told him that illegal items had been detected in a package he didn’t remember sending. Despite the confusion, he denied the claims. However, the more he talked to the crooks, the more legitimate their words began to sound.

“They said to me, ‘Sir, your name, your home address, everything is on it. This is a very serious crime and you will now be arrested. There’s already a warrant out for your arrest,” he said, adding that he convinced him to connect with a fake police officer on the phone to address the possibility that someone was misusing his identity.

The uniformed police officer, whom Bahuguna connected via WhatsApp video call, listed crimes he claimed to have found under the influencer’s name, including money laundering and drug trafficking. “And he starts interrogating me by taking the names of some criminals and asking me about my relationship with them,” added Bahuguna.

Raising awareness on the issue, the influencer pointed out that the way these scammers break their victim is by making their tricks believable, which makes the victim give in to their methods in desperation to eliminate their risks . After convincing him that his loved ones were also threatened, they reassured him that they were on his side.

“I wasn’t allowed to take calls or text people or let anyone in the house. I had to turn off every gadget in my house. They took out every possible piece of information. That was my second biggest mistake,” she confessed. stating that he was told to position himself a certain way in front of the camera at all times.

“I was crying and asking them if I can tell the people who were trying to control me, but they told me that this is a secret and if I told anyone, I would be arrested. And also that the lives of these people would be in danger if I contacted them,” he said.

Bauguna emphasized that it was his mistake to buy into their first lie, which led him into this vicious series of more terrifying lies. As the matter escalated, he was told to visit a bank to make some suspicious transactions, though even then he was too agitated to suspect anything.

He credited the quick thinking of his friends for helping him out of the situation. When they noticed how unusual his behavior seemed, they scrutinized him until they realized he was a notorious fraud. Their help helped him get out of the situation.

The issue has since been toned down, allowing the influencer to relax and broadcast his experience as a cautionary tale for his followers. “I’ve taken a day to process it and now my friends and I are just goofing around,” he reassured.