26-year-old held from Nuh for digital extortion

Call details of suspected numbers and mobile numbers registered in bank accounts were obtained, and a money trail was found. On the basis of technical surveillance, a raid was conducted at a village in Nuh, Haryana, and the accused was held on Sunday.

A 26-year-old man was arrested on Sundayfor allegedly duping people by posing as a woman and later as a law enforcement officer. Police said the man would first target rich men on social media, lure them into video calls, and later call them as officials for extorting money.

Police said that the accused first contacted men on social media with blurred or unclear photos of women.

The accused — Mohammed Naseem — has been named in four such cases, police said. The matter came to light in June this year when a businessman from Narela complained to the police that he had been duped of ₹40,000.

As per the complaint, the man said he received an unknown woman’s friend request on social media, where he spoke to her on messages as well as video call. The caller was a woman.

“The call was disconnected after some time. Later, he received a phone call from an unknown number. The caller posed as a cyber crime police officer and told the man that his obscene videos are being uploaded on YouTube. The caller then connected the man to another person who claimed to be a YouTube staff. They allegedly demanded ₹40,000 to delete the video,” an officer said.

Out of fear, the businessman paid the money and later realised that he was duped.

“During investigation, call details of suspected numbers and mobile numbers registered in bank accounts were obtained, and a money trail was found. On the basis of technical surveillance, a raid was conducted at a village in Nuh, Haryana, and the accused was held on Sunday,” DCP (north) Hareshwar Swami said.

Police said that the accused first contacted men on social media with blurred or unclear photos of women. After a video call, the accused would pose as police and YouTube staff and threaten the victim.