Frauds pose as IPS officer, extort ₹2.21 lakh from 75-yr-old

Mumbai: A 75-year-old man from Ghatkopar (west) became a victim of cyber fraud recently after being enticed into an intimate video call with a woman and blackmailed thereafter with a surreptitious recording

Mumbai: A 75-year-old man from Ghatkopar (west) became a victim of cyber fraud recently after being enticed into an intimate video call with a woman and blackmailed thereafter with a surreptitious recording. The frauds posed as senior officials from Delhi police and journalists, and extorted ₹2.21 lakh from the senior citizen.

Frauds pose as IPS officer, extort ₹2.21 lakh from 75-yr-old

According to Ghatkopar police, which are probing the case, the complainant received a WhatsApp message on September 5 from an unknown number that read: “I am from Jaipur.” This was followed by a video call from the same number. When he received the call, he saw a woman undressing. She urged him to do likewise, whereupon he cut the call.

A few hours later, he received a call from another unknown number. “The caller identifying himself as IPS officer Rahul Ahirwar from Delhi police told the complainant that he had the recording of his explicit video call conversation with a woman and if he did not cough up ₹30,500 the video would be uploaded on YouTube. He also shared the bank account details with the 75-year-old,” said a police officer.

The fake police officer also threatened to register an FIR against the complainant, if he failed to pay him, the police officer added.

Scared, the complainant transferred the amount to the caller. After this, he received a call from another unknown number. The caller identified himself as a journalist Rahul Sharma and threatened to make the recorded video call viral on social media if the complainant failed to pay ₹50,000, stated the FIR. When the victim transferred the sum, the accused became emboldened to extract more from him. The frauds finally managed to get ₹2.21 lakh from the victim.

When they called for more money, he approached the police on September 12. The Ghatkopar police have registered a case for impersonating a public servant, extortion and impersonation using computer devices against the two accused.

The police are in the process of obtaining details of bank accounts used in commission of the crime. Investigators suspect that the accused and the beneficiary account holders are from different states.