Mumbai Crime Branch busts sextortion racket, 3 held, 175 FB accounts blocked

This picture has been used for representational purpose

With help from the local cops of Haryana, Rajasthan and UP, the Cyber Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch (CB) has busted a pan-India sextortion racket, which has been primarily targeting politicians, bureaucrats and celebrities. Three people have been arrested and the cops have blocked 175 Facebook accounts, through which the accused have been luring people using photographs of good-looking women. The CB has also found a video in which a senior member of the gang is seen training others on how to make sextortion calls and the precautions that need to be taken to evade law-enforcing agencies.

According to the CB, the accused were arrested from the tri-junction of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the area from where the gang has been operating. "They had created fake Facebook accounts using pictures of women to lure the victims. Multiple complaints have been filed, all of which are being investigated," said Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner of Crime, Mumbai. "We have blocked 175 Facebook accounts and have frozen 58 bank accounts through which the extorted money would be transferred," he added.

According to the cops, the accused would send friend requests through social media accounts and then indulge in friendly talk with the victims. "Soon after the accused would make video calls and play pornographic clips," Bharambe added.

The CB has found out that once the victims started watching the porn clips, the accused would take screengrabs of their facial expressions and then try to extort money from them. The accused would threaten them of sharing the pictures on social media.

Bharambe further said, "The only way to avoid such things is to not accept friend requests from unknown people even if they have mutual friends. Even if you accept such requests do not indulge in unnecessary communication and avoid video calls." The police have found that the arrested accused were Std V and IV pass outs but have excellent knowledge of information technology. "Most of these cyber fraudsters have been operating from villages like Mewat and Bharat Nagar. It has become a new hub for cyber fraudsters. It wouldn't have been possible to make the arrests without the help of the local cops of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh," said Rashmi Karandikar, DCP, Cyber Cell.

Fifty-eight
No. of accounts linked to the case that have been frozen