Mumbai: Juhu man duped of Rs. 50,000 through dating app

Representational Image. File Pic

The Juhu police arrested a student in a extortion case in which he pretended to be speaking from the CBI.

The accused has been identified as Ashish Swamy, and he had given his bank account to fraudsters. The court has sent him to police custody.

The complainant, a resident of JVPD, Vile Parle, had been using a dating app for the past two years. In March, he started talking to a girl on the dating app. After chatting, she asked for his phone number. Shortly after giving his number, he received a video call on WhatsApp. He cut the call because the woman was behaving inappropriately. When he got a video call again from the girl, he blocked the number out of fear.

The next day, he received another video from a different number. He downloaded the video and was shocked to see himself in it. He called the number, and the scammer pretended to be from the CBI, claiming a case had been registered against him and that the police would soon arrest him. The scammer said the video had been uploaded on YouTube and demanded ₹50,000 to remove it.

Out of fear, the complainant deposited ₹50,000 into the provided bank account. After sending the money, he received another call, threatening further defamation if he didn't pay more.

He then rushed to the Juhu police station to report the incident.

The police had registered a case against an unknown person. Assistant Commissioner Mahesh Mugutrao instructed the officials to investigate. The team of Senior Inspector Sunil Kumar Jadhav, along with Sub Inspectors Anurag Dixit, Mandekar, Revankar, and others, began their investigation.

They traced the bank account information to Alwar, Rajasthan. There, the police laid a trap and detained Ashish Swamy, who had given his bank account to the fraudsters and had also withdrawn money from an ATM. He was arrested and brought to Mumbai. Police are searching for his other accomplices.