Mumbai: Khar resident duped, loses Rs 31k in sextortion fraud

Mumbai: A 59-year-old man who is working as a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for a leading company has become the latest victim of sextortion fraud. The victim had received a WhatsApp call from an unknown person, and after answering the said call, the victim could only see a person indulging in obscenity.

The victim then disconnected the said and later he received an edited morphed video and the fraudster threatened the victim that his video would be shared on social media and his friend's circle and demanded extortion. The victim ended up paying Rs 31500. 

According to the Khar police, on October 4, when the victim was at home, he received a video call from an unknown WhatsApp number. As soon as the victim answered the call, he saw the person on the call indulging in obscenity, after which the victim disconnected the call.

After a few hours, the victim received a message on his phone from the same number. On checking the message, the victim found a video. On opening the video, the victim was shocked to see that his video was purposefully morphed with an obscene person in an obscene manner. The victim then immediately deleted the said video.

Victim threatened by two messages

The victim later received two messages from the fraudster wherein she asked the victim if she should delete the video or share it on social media, family and friends of the victim. The fraudster then demanded Rs 31500 from the victim.

Even after having paid the money, the fraudster kept demanding more money, after which the victim blocked the said number. The victim then started receiving threatening messages from two other mobile numbers asking for money. Harassed by this, the complainant approached the police and lodged a complaint in this regard, the police said. 

The police have registered a case under sections 384 (extortion), 385 (putting a person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion), 506 (Criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and section 67A (publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit acts, etc., in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.