Chandigarh Police bust ‘nude video’ extortion ring, three held

After enticing men with fake female profiles on WhatsApp and Facebook, trio would trick them into getting naked on video calls and use the clip to blackmail them, said Chandigarh Police

The operation cell of Chandigarh Police has unearthed an inter-state extortion racket being run by three men from Rajasthan.

The accused, Mubin, 39, Rashid, 19, and Ajrudin, 24, in the custody of Chandigarh Police. (HT Photo)

Through fake profiles of females, the trio would entice and induce men to get naked on video calls and then use their clips to blackmail them for easy money, said police.

Those arrested were identified as Mubin, 39, Rashid, 19, and Ajrudin, 24.

Police said Mubin was a Class-12 dropout and ran a mobile shop in Kaithwara, Bharatpur, Rajasthan. Rashid is studying at an ITI and also repairs mobile phones at Mubin’s shop, while Ajrudin is a Class 8 dropout.

“Working in a coordinated manner, the gang members would divide tasks of arranging the SIMs, bank accounts for money transfer and callers who would pose as police officials to threaten the victims,” said Ketan Bansal, superintendent of police (SP, Operations).

How they trapped victims

Detailing the modus operandi, SP Bansal said the accused would connect with their target through fake female profiles on WhatsApp or Facebook. Offering friendship, they would start chatting with the target and slowly start sending lascivious messages.

Using a pre-recorded video clip of a woman, they would use female voice overs on a video call to get the target to remove their clothes and record the entire act.

Then began the attempts to extort money by threatening the target with releasing their video clips online. If they refused to pay up, they would be threatened with arrest through WhatsApp voice calls from phone numbers having display picture of a uniformed policeman, after claiming that the “woman” had filed a police complaint.

Extorted ₹3,120 from Sector-19 resident

The racket was reported to the Chandigarh Police by Manoj Kumar, a resident of Sector 19, who was targeted through the same modus operandi.

After getting threat calls from “SHO of DC Office, Chandigarh”, Kumar ended up paying ₹3,120, but reported the matter to the police after the accused demanded ₹25,000 more with the threat to release his video online if he didn’t pay up.

A case under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 384 (extortion),120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code was registered in this regard at the Cyber Crime police station on August 17.