Cyber Cell of Delhi police has unearthed a cybercrime racket that was allegedly extorting money from people on Facebook by blackmailing them. According to Times of India (TOI), Delhi police Cyber Cell has arrested six men from Bharatpur Rajasthan who were allegedly running an online extortion racket. The culprits have been identified as Waris, Rayees, Annay Khan, Wahid, Mufeed and Akram. All are residents of Bharatpur.
25 lakhs recovered from 10 bank accounts by police
The culprits reportedly used to create fake profiles on Facebook and would send friend requests to unsuspecting people, their victims are mostly men over 50 who are generally active on social media. They would ask these people to talk over video calls and would show them obscene videos over video calls. While the victims watched these videos, the culprits would record them watch the video. Later, the culprits would pose as senior officials of social media platforms and would demand money for deleting the video.
According to the TOI report, 40 victims have been identified so far and the around 25 lakh rupees from 10 bank accounts has been recovered. The police have material including seized 17 mobile phones, 2 ATM cards, cheque books, etc. that was used by the culprits in the crime. Most of the victims are reportedly over 50 years of age and active users of Facebook. The profiles of victims include catering service provider and stationery business, as per the TOI report.
Victims shown adult clips and were recorded watching them
According to DCP (Cyber Cell), Anyesh Roy, the Cyber Crime Unit received several complaints in last few weeks regarding an online extortion racket run by some men who had been blackmailing people by threatening to upload obscene videos online. “An inquiry revealed that the victims were contacted over social media platforms like Facebook. The victims were engaged in a brief chat and then asked to make a video call over Messenger or WhatsApp. The victims were shown adult clips and the video call was simultaneously recorded. After some time, they got extortion calls demanding Rs 2,000-3,000”, said the DCP.
Some of the victims reportedly gave the money but some filed a complaint with the police. DCP (Cyber Cell) Anyesh Roy told that the location of the accused was found to be Bharatpur and they were found using SIM cards and bank accounts obtained through fake IDs. They would change the SIM cards, issued from different parts of the country, frequently usually after a day or two. The bank in which the culprits transferred the extorted money were of Alwar. The culprits were nabbed during a raid.
