Pulitzer Winner Indian Journalist Suparna Sharma Speaks to Times Now Digital- ‘It Feels Unreal’

Indian Journalist Suparna Sharma, along with illustrator Anand RK, has won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in the Illustrated Reporting and Commentary category for the project 'trAPPed'. They share the award with Natalie Obiko Pearson of Bloomberg for their work on digital surveillance and cyber fraud. According to The Pulitzer Prizes website, the project presents a 'riveting account' of a neurologist in India who was subjected to a so-called 'digital arrest' through phone. Times Now Digital spoke to Sharma about the win, the story behind trAPPed and what her reporting uncovered.Winning the Pulitzer - how does it feel?Suparna Sharma: It feels a little unreal. It’s absolutely joyous, but also overwhelming. I get teary-eyed every few hours—I just

start crying for no reason.How did you come on board Bloomberg’s trAPPed project?Suparna Sharma: The idea for the graphic story was Bloomberg’s. Their editors wanted to do two formats: a long-form written story and a visual one. They were looking for a reporter in India, interviewed several people and chose me. I started my career in the 1990s on the crime beat, so this felt very close to home. I was thrilled to be part of it. But the credit for the idea and execution really goes to the Bloomberg editors—they were incredible.How did the Pulitzer submission process work?Suparna Sharma: At American publications like Bloomberg, awards are taken very seriously. The editorial team handles submissions. One of our editors, Ken Armstrong, is a Pulitzer winner himself. The team Ken, Amanda Cox, Juhi and others put in a lot of effort. They were also very generous about including freelancers like Anand and me in award entries. I knew the story had been submitted. I stayed up late watching the live announcement. When our category came up, I thought we wouldn’t win and almost switched it off. Then suddenly our name was announced. It was around 2:30 am, I was alone at home and didn’t know how to react.What were your key findings while reporting trAPPed?Suparna Sharma: One big reason these scams work is that people spend so much time on their phones that they start believing everything that comes through them. Phones have become the source of everything from news, emotions, conversations, so trust in what appears on them has grown very strong. There is nothing called a 'digital arrest' but the scam is extremely sophisticated. It’s not a small operation, it involves multiple teams, almost like departments in an organisation, with 20–30 people working together to pull off one scam. Another factor is the government's push for digital access, of phones, SIM cards, bank accounts without enough safeguards. The intent is good, but without digital literacy and guardrails, people become vulnerable.Was there anything that particularly surprised you during your reporting?Suparna Sharma: Yes. In some villages, people were asked to sign forms to receive government benefits. Along with legitimate paperwork, they were made to sign additional forms that were later used to generate multiple SIM cards. So in a village of 400–500 people, you could end up with hundreds of extra SIM cards being misused. The same applies to bank accounts. Dormant accounts suddenly show hundreds of transactions worth crores, and no one flags it. This entire system runs on SIM cards and bank accounts, and both are poorly regulated. There is either complicity or complete negligence across telecom companies and banks.Who should be held accountable for these scams?Suparna Sharma: If I can say it, it should be two entities: the government and the banks. The government has pushed digital systems without enough safeguards. And banks, which are making money from people’s deposits, are not protecting that money. People trust banks to do due diligence, but that’s clearly not happening. And banks are not being held accountable.How big is the cyber fraud ecosystem today?Suparna Sharma: There is a parallel economy of scams. The top three are investment fraud, extortion, and digital arrest scams. There are government bodies working on this and some have helped people too, but a lot of the effort is limited to collecting complaints rather than actively stopping these networks.