Mumbai: A 49-year-old water supplier from Byculla was duped of Rs 1.28 lakh in a well-orchestrated sextortion scam, after cyber fraudsters threatened to circulate an obscene video and impersonated the Delhi Crime Branch officials to extort money.
The Byculla police have registered a case and launched an investigation under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology (IT) Act.
According to the FIR, the incident began late at night on July 11, when the victim received a WhatsApp video call from an unknown number around 11 PM. When he answered, a woman appeared on the screen in a nude state. Shocked, he immediately disconnected the call.
The next morning, he received a call from a man identifying himself as Vikas, who claimed the woman had recorded the video call and uploaded it on YouTube. He demanded money to have the video removed. Fearing public humiliation, the victim transferred Rs 36,500 through PhonePe.
However, the ordeal didn’t end there. Soon after, the fraudster demanded an additional Rs 61,500, which the victim managed to pay by borrowing money from a friend. A third call followed from another unknown number, where the caller posed as a Delhi Crime Branch officer and threatened arrest.
This caller threatened him with arrest and extracted another Rs 30,000 via IMPS transfer. When the fraudsters asked for his bank account details, the victim grew suspicious, the victim questioned them, but received evasive responses before the call was abruptly cut.
Realizing he had been conned, he approached the Byculla Police Station and filed a complaint. Police are now tracing the digital trail of the accused.
