NEW DELHI: Delhi Police busted a sextortion racket and arrested a 22-year-old man for allegedly extorting over Rs 7 lakh from several people by threatening to post their private chats and videos on social media.
The matter came to light after a 27-year-old man, a resident of Shahdara, alleged that in March, he received a WhatsApp video call from an unknown number. On answering the call, he saw a woman engaged in an obscene act, police said.
The man later started receiving extortion calls from people who introduced themselves as Delhi Police officers. They threatened to circulate the complainant's private pictures online if he did not pay them the said amount, the police said.
The victim then transferred a total of Rs 2 lakh to different bank accounts, they added.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Rohit Meena said after tracing the call records, WhatsApp chats and bank details, the police conducted a raid in Rajasthan's Bharatpur and nabbed Wasim, the prime accused.
During interrogation, Wasim said his gang members used to call the victims on WhatsApp and engage them by playing obscene videos from a second phone. They would then take the screenshot of the call in which the victim could be seen watching he videos being played on the other side and later harass them with the same screengrab, the DCP said.
The accused had purchased SIM cards and mobile phones from West Bengal, he added.
This is the twelfth such arrest this year as part of an ongoing drive against Mewat-based cyber criminals, the police said.
(With PTI inputs)
