Meghalaya lawyer falls victim to AI voice call scam, Rs 90,000 lost
Guwahati: A lawyer in Meghalaya recently lost Rs 90,000 after responding to an AI-generated voice call that mimicked her senior, Justice Hamarsan Singh Thangkhiew, judge in-charge of the Meghalaya State Judicial Academy, revealed on Saturday.
Speaking at a training programme for judicial officers on ‘Cybercrime & the Court: Law, Evidence & Practice’, organised by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) at the High Court of Meghalaya, Justice Thangkhiew explained that the fraudulent transaction, authorised through an OTP, was traced across multiple numbers linked to Bihar and Haryana.
This led to the arrest of a man whose SIM card had been misused. “He was merely a pawn and had no idea his number was being exploited,” the judge said.
He highlighted that cybercrime investigations often require coordination among multiple agencies, particularly when authorities freeze bank accounts to prevent fund movement.
Innocent individuals sometimes face disruptions to their livelihoods when accounts are frozen mistakenly.
Justice Thangkhiew noted that modern crimes like these no longer require the physical presence of criminals. Many offences span multiple jurisdictions and lack traditional evidence, such as eyewitness accounts.
“Conventional tools used by law enforcement and courts have become inadequate in addressing these evolving threats,” he said.
The judge also discussed amendments to India’s criminal justice framework, including replacing the Indian Penal Code, the CrPC, and the Evidence Act with three new laws. These reforms aim to address jurisdictional issues, strengthen provisions for electronic offences, and improve the handling of digital evidence.
“Technology has transformed daily life, from online banking to remote work, but it has also opened new avenues for criminal activity,” Justice Thangkhiew observed.
He concluded the session by expressing hope that the programme would equip judicial officers to better understand emerging cybercrime trends, preserve electronic evidence, and handle cases effectively in the digital age.