The arrest of two accused in a phone snatching case led Gurgaon Police to bust a sextortion racket that allegedly extorted more than Rs 2.8 crores from numerous targets. The two accused Zubair Khan (19) and Waseem (21) were arrested earlier this week by Gurgaon Police in a phone snatching case. However, during the investigation, the accused led police to a string of cybercrimes of sextortion.
ACP (Crime) Varun Dahiya stated that during questioning, it was revealed that Waseem after robbing the complainant’s phone sold it to Zubair for Rs 7,000. He said, “Investigation and interrogation of the accused lead us to a string of complaints against Zubair for extortion. He also revealed that others were involved in the crime. Zubair used the robbed phone to make WhatsApp video calls and defrauded several people of Rs 2.88 crore through extortion.”
छीनाझपटी/लूटपाट तथा व्ट्सऐप पर विडियो कॉल करके करोङों की ठगी करने वाले 02 आरोपी #गुरुग्राम_पुलिस ने किए गिरफ्तार,
— Gurugram Police (@gurgaonpolice) December 19, 2023
आरोपियों के कब्जा से छीना हुआ 01 मोबाईल फोन भी बरामद।@police_haryana @DGPHaryana pic.twitter.com/ZEFe4gwvQp
As per reports, there are several complaints against him, and a few FIRs have also been registered.
Dahiya added, “We are checking their modus operandi and will probe if there was a syndicate in Mewat. We will recover the money as and when we probe these complaints against them.”
Waseem is currently facing charges in eight cases related to theft and robbery, spanning various police stations in Gurgaon. Similarly, Zubair is accused of two cyber-fraud incidents, including the ongoing case.
As per reports, on 11th December, a resident of Gurgaon’s Bar Gujjar area filed a complaint at the Kherki Daula police station. He stated that an unidentified person on a bike snatched his mobile phone and fled.
Subsequently, on 14th December, the Crime Branch team from Sector 31 arrested Zubair Khan near Ghatvasan. Later, the second accused, Wasim (21), a resident of Hasanpur Beri, was arrested on 17th December in Nuh. The police successfully recovered the stolen mobile phone.
The police during the investigation found that Wasim would snatch mobile phones from commuters and then sell them to Zubair for around Rs 7,000 each. The Police said that during the investigation it was found out that the accused used to work at a Bilaspur-based company and knew each other since then.
Regarding the modus operandi, the ACP said that the targets would receive a video call on WhatsApp from an unknown number. Upon answering, the screen would reveal either a naked woman or, in some instances, remain blank. Before the targets could comprehend the situation, the call would abruptly end after a few seconds.
Afterwards, the accused would morph an explicit video featuring the target’s face, sending it to the victim on WhatsApp a few hours later. Subsequently, the accused would threaten the target to upload the video on social media if they failed to pay a large amount. However, even after making the payment, the accused would threaten them again to give more money, creating an ongoing cycle of extortion.
