Five arrested for extorting men using dating app

Five suspects were arrested in Rajasthan for blackmailing men via dating apps, extorting around ₹10,000 to ₹45,000 from at least 400 victims.

Published on: May 15, 2026, 05:56:08 IST

By Debashish Karmakar

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Five suspects were arrested from Karauli in Rajasthan for blackmailing and extorting men through dating apps and social media platforms, Faridabad police said on Thursday.

All five were sent to judicial custody on Monday after custodial interrogation. (Shutterstock)

Faridabad police said they were trying to trace the gang for the last four months and arrested them on May 8. All five were sent to judicial custody on Monday after custodial interrogation.

According to investigators one of the suspects used to imitate voices of woman during phone calls with the victims. The suspects, all men, are all aged between 21 and 24 years.

Police said that the suspects recorded the private videos of the victims over video calls and blackmailed them into transferring money into mule bank accounts.

A senior police officer, privy to the investigation, said that the arrests are related to an FIR filed by a 28-year-old Faridabad resident who was extorted by the gang through a dating app in January this year.

“The suspects talked with victim on the dating app from mid January, the prime suspect, imitating a woman’s voice, called the victim and asked him to join a video call. The suspects recorded the vicitm’s private video on the call and demanded ₹45,000 by threatening to circulate it on social media platform,” said the officer.

Investigators said the victim got an FIR registered for extortion under Section 308(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Cybercrime police station (central) in Faridabad on January 25.

Yashpal Yadav, public relations officer of Faridabad police said that the gang was active for the last one year and had targeted at least 400 victims till now but there were hardly any complaints against them.

“They always extorted small amounts ranging between ₹10,000 to ₹15,000,” he said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debashish Karmakar
Debashish Karmakar is a principal correspondent with the Hindustan Times, Gurugram bureau. He has a vast journalistic experience of almost 14 years of covering crime, court, power, transport, administration, weather and other beats while working across various organisations. He has been covering Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal and other districts of southern Haryana for more than four and a half years. He has produced several breaking and exclusive stories while reporting from the ground where he maintains a strong presence on a daily basis. He writes news articles which are hard-hitting and accurate. With his strong bureaucratic sources, he frequently writes stories to expose the failure of the system forcing authorities to take necessary course-corrective steps. Besides crime, important convictions and court orders, he also writes on human-angle stories, on power issues and challenges faced by the residents on a daily basis in Gurugram and neighbouring areas. In the past, he worked for media houses like The Times of India, where he extensively reported on important government matters and daily proceedings at the Patna High Court. He has also worked in the electronic media and had done ground coverage on the Kedarnath deluge that wrecked Uttarakhand in 2013.Read More

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