Hyderabad: A 24-year-old man allegedly extorted money from people and cheated them of about ₹40 lakh by operating fake social media profiles posing as women. The accused, Kondabhattula Pavan Kumar, allegedly lured victims into sexual conversations and threatened to expose their intimate photographs and videos, police said after arresting him in Saidabad.He allegedly operated 13 fake Instagram accounts and 14 Facebook profiles, using photographs of a woman from Kolkata, whom he identified as Chandana, to befriend people online. According to police, he had chatted with more than 1,000 people, of whom 82 victims allegedly shared nude photographs or videos. His victims included people from five other states and nine people from countries including UAE, Turkey, Pakistan and Canada.According to police, Pavan would gradually steer conversations towards sexual exchanges and persuade victims to share intimate photographs and videos. He allegedly stored the material on different mobile phones and social media accounts. After obtaining the images, he would then introduce himself as the woman’s brother and threaten to make the photographs public or have his “sister” file a complaint against them, using these threats to extort money.Police said Pavan allegedly extorted ₹18 lakh from victims through this method and cheated others of another ₹7.16 lakh by promising returns on investments, taking the total to ₹25.16 lakh. His alleged victims included doctors, businessmen, lecturers, private employees, delivery workers and gig workers. One of those targeted was a friend from his diploma course, from whom Pavan allegedly extorted ₹4 lakh using the same method.In another case, he allegedly cheated a software employee of about ₹7 lakh by promising investment returns. Police said he had allegedly extorted ₹6.8 lakh and ₹7 lakh from two other unidentified victims, respectively. More cases are likely to be registered. Pavan had discontinued his diploma course at the Central Institute of Tool Design in Balanagar but allegedly led his parents to believe that he was pursuing BTech at Malla Reddy College.He had worked at a digital lending company in Basheerbagh and a chit fund company in Nanakramguda before becoming unemployed, police said. The case was registered at Saidabad police station under relevant provisions of the BNS and the IT Act. Further investigation was being conducted under the supervision of Charminar Zone police officers.
