Thane man falls prey to 'sextortion', loses Rs 6.5 lakh

The caller informed the man that a woman was running a sex racket and the police while making efforts to arrest her came across the mans video which was about to be uploaded on social media. The caller asked the man to contact a person referred by him if he wanted to stop the video from being uploaded on social media, the official said.

A 39-year-old man from Maharashtra's Thane city working as a corporate consultant has allegedly lost Rs 6.50 lakh after being lured by a woman on a video call, police said on Wednesday.

As per the victim's complaint, he received a WhatsApp video call from a number on March 17, 2023, where a woman spoke to him. In the midst of the call, she suddenly undressed herself following which the man immediately disconnected the call, an official from Kasarwadavali police station said.

After some time, the man received a video of the woman and some screen shots wherein he was seen conversing with her. He then immediately deleted the contents.

The next day, the man received a call from an unknown number wherein the caller posed as the police commissioner of Delhi, the official said quoting the complaint. The caller informed the man that a woman was running a sex racket and the police while making efforts to arrest her came across the man's video which was about to be uploaded on social media. The caller asked the man to contact a person referred by him if he wanted to stop the video from being uploaded on social media, the official said. When the man called that person, he allegedly demanded Rs 50,000 from him. The man made the payment out of the fear of being defamed, the official said.

Later, different persons called the man between March 18 and 25 and allegedly extorted a total of Rs 6.50 lakh from him, he said.

The man filed a police complaint on Tuesday, based on which an FIR was registered against 10 named persons and five other unidentified persons under Indian Penal Code Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), and provisions of the Information Technology Act, the official said.

No arrest has been made so far, the police said, adding that a probe was on into the case.

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