Mumbai Cyber Safe: Sextortion cases in the city rose by 44% in 2022

Mumbai: A 59-year-old man has lodged a complaint with the Bandra police, claiming that an extortionist was blackmailing him, threatening to send nude videos of the man to his contacts unless the latter paid Rs 51,000.

Mumbai Police statistics reveal a 44 per cent rise in cases of sextortion in the city in the last year as compared to 2021, with 78 such cases being registered in the city, as compared to 54 in 2021.

Victim received call from an unknown number; caller indulged in obscene conversation

According to the Bandra police, on March 4, when the victim was at home, he received a message from an unknown WhatsApp number, which had a woman in the display picture. The man, who was then in the washroom, called back the number and enquired who she was, but said the call got converted into a video call and when the woman indulged in obscene conversation, the man disconnected the call.

Demand of Rs 51,000 made by extortionists

He then received a call from another number, with the caller informing him that an obscene video of his had been readied, which was sent to him. The accused then told him that he had access to the complainant’s contact list and demanded Rs 51,000. A second threatening call was received from another unknown number. Harassed, the man had lodged a police complaint.

Mumbai police have registered case

Police have registered a case on charges of acts by several persons in furtherance of common intention, putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extor­tion, identity theft, cheating by personation by using computer resource and publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form under the sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.

“We register cases whenever we get any complaint and make all possible efforts to trace and arrest the culprits involved. We encourage citizens to report the incident to police as early as possible. Citizens should not get intimidated by such fraudsters and report the matter to the police,” said the deputy commissioner of police (cybercrime), Dr Balsingh Rajput.

Deputy CP (Cybercrime) alerts citizens about banking fraud

According to Cyber Crime Cell under Crime Branch of mumbai police , the most common form of online frauds are related to banks, online commerce platforms where fraudsters, posing as bank /platform officials, convince the victim to share OTP, KYC updates and sometimes send the links to be clicked to access bank accounts.

“People should know that no bank or institution is authorised to demand for bank details or PIN numbers. Unfortunately, educated people are falling prey to online frauds and losing lakhs of rupees,” explained DCP Cyber Crime , Balsingh Rajput