Hackers try to extort money from Khar businessman

A 61-year-old businessman from Khar is the latest target of hackers who tried to extort money from him using a staged video

A 61-year-old businessman from Khar is the latest target of hackers who tried to extort money from him using a staged video. This time, his wife and son too received the obscene clip, prompting the police to probe if the accused is known to the family.

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Around 10 am on Thursday, the complainant received a WhatsApp call from an unknown number and answered it.

“I put the phone to my ear and asked who it was, but could not hear anything. I looked at the screen to check if the call was still active and only then did I realise that it was a video call. There was a young woman on the screen and as soon as she saw me, she began to undress,” the businessman told the police in his statement.

Minutes later, the complainant received a recording of the same video call but with his face prominently on the screen while the woman in the obscene act as inset. His wife and son too received the same video clip on their WhatsApp numbers.

What followed was a string of text messages threatening him to upload the video on social media. But before the accused could threaten to extort money, the businessman hung up and deleted the number from his recent calls’ list, police officers said.

The entire family then rushed to Khar police station.

“Sextortion racketeers usually target the victim’s social media accounts but it is rare for them to have contact numbers of the family members, without having had direct access to the victim’s phone. We are investigating to find out how they had all the contact numbers and the possibility of the accused being known to the complainant has not been ruled out,” a police officer said.

The officer also said that they are trying to recover the number of the caller with the help of cyber forensic experts.

A case has been registered against unidentified persons under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.