NEW DELHI: Two men were arrested for allegedly extorting a man of Rs 35,000 after luring him into a video call through a fake dating app profile and threatening to circulate an obscene screen recording of the call profile in east Delhi’s Shahdara area, police said on Monday.
The accused have been identified as Shyam Singh (21), a resident of Rajasthan, and Mangal Singh (31), a resident of Delhi. According to police, a case was registered on Thursday based on the statement of the victim, who claimed he met a woman on a mobile dating app.
After exchanging numbers, they began chatting on WhatsApp. The woman then initiated an explicit video call in which the complainant’s face was visible and recorded the session using a screen recorder.
“She then threatened to release the footage on social media unless he paid her money to delete it,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Deependra Kumar Singh said.
Fearing public embarrassment, the man transferred Rs 35,000 to a bank account shared by the woman. However, when further demands were made, he approached the cyber police station in Shahdara, the officer added.
A case under relevant sections of the BNS was registered and an investigation was launched. During the probe, the police traced the bank account where the extorted amount was transferred, the Additional DCP said. Subsequently, it was revealed to be the account opened online in the name of Mangal Singh but operated by Shyam Singh.
“Shyam confessed that he opened multiple bank accounts either in his name or by using others’ credentials, offering them money in return. In this case, Mangal Singh was paid Rs 10,000 to Rs 6,000 online by Harjeet Singh alias Sonu and Rs 4,000 in cash by Shyam to let his documents be used to open the account,” the officer added.
It was also found that Shyam handed over an ATM card and an associated SIM card to another accomplice named Aamir, who is absconding.
“Further interrogation revealed that Shyam is the mastermind and previously lured others into opening accounts through online KYC processes. He specifically targeted a private bank for account creation, which was then used in various cybercrimes,” the police said.
Four mobile phones and three SIM cards were recovered from the accused, said cops.