One evening in October, I got a text message from my mother. I had spent the day working on a story on Indians falling prey to “digital arrests” in which cyber-scamsters posing as law enforcement officials dupe people of vast sums of money.

My mother asked when I would be back from work. My father wanted to speak to me, she said.

This was most unusual. Worried about a health problem, I phoned him immediately.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Don’t tell anyone, but I have been falsely implicated in an ED-CBI case,” Papa said.

As he spoke, my heart sank. This sounded like the script of the digital arrest cases I had been reporting on, where fraudsters claiming to be officials of the police or Enforcement Directorate or Central Bureau of Investigation call people to say that they have been accused in a criminal case. They intimidate their targets enough to force them into transferring large sums of money.

The proliferation of such scams had led Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his radio show in October to warn listeners against falling for this digital crime.

“It is a scam, Papa,” I almost screamed, before my father could finish. “Please tell me you have not given them any money.”

“Rs 10 lakh,” came the reply,...