No concept of digital or online arrest under PMLA: ED

New Delhi, Oct 8 (PTI) There is no concept of digital or online arrest under the anti-money laundering law and the ED undertakes such a procedure only in person, the federal probe agency said on Wednesday.

The reiteration by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) comes in the backdrop of rising instances of 'digital arrest', a cyber crime where criminals cheat people by calling them over an online messaging platform and seek money in return.

"It is reiterated that arrests made by the ED are done after following due procedure and are done physically in person.

"There is no concept of digital arrest or online arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002," the ED said.

The ED also implements the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) but being a civil law, there are no provisions for the arrest of a person.

The ED has in the past issued such an advisory against digital arrests and fake summons but it issued a latest statement saying it was doing it again after it noticed "multiple instances wherein certain unscrupulous persons (conman) have sent summons to individuals with the motive of cheating or extortion".

"These fake summons are often similar to the genuine summons issued by ED and hence, it is difficult for the individuals to distinguish between the fake and genuine summons," it said.

The agency issues summons or notices calling individuals to depose before it for questioning under the criminal Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

The agency said in order to provide individuals a facility to verify the authenticity of the summons received by them from the ED, it has implemented a mechanism of generating summons through the system which bears a QR code and a unique passcode at the bottom of the summons document.

"Officials of the ED have been instructed to issue summons only through the system except in certain exceptional circumstances.

"It may also be noted that the summons generated from the system shall be duly signed and stamped by the official issuing the summons and shall also contain his/her official email id and the phone number for correspondence purposes," the ED said.

The authenticity of the summons can be verified on the official website of the agency -- https://enforcementdirectorate.gov.in -- 24 hours after the issuing date (excluding public holidays, Saturdays and Sundays), it said.

In case of summons not generated by the system individuals can contact a designated official-- Assistant Director Rahul Verma-- at his office located in the ED headquarters at A Block, Pravartan Bhawan, APJ Kalam Road, New Delhi -110011.

The officer can also be contacted through his official email ID-- adinv2-ed[at]gov[dot]in-- and landline no- 011-23339172, the statement said. PTI NES ZMN